How To Improve Your Relationship With Tiffany Hwang
by kimsooyeon123
Summary: credit to the owner
1. Chapter 1

"What in the heavens is wrong with you?"

"Lots of things." Taeyeon says in a bored matter and looks away from her best friend, Jessica.

"Taeng, just answer the question." Yuri, Taeyeon's other best friend says. Taeyeon had been sulky with low energy for a while and neither her or her girlfriend are liking it. They're currently having lunch together on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and Taeyeon is starting to really piss both of them off.

"I'm bored out of my life, okay?!" Taeyeon bursts and takes a big gulp of her juice, "You two are so lucky to be in a relationship. While here I am, living all alone with only you two to hang out with."

"I feel like you've just said something really mean but I will let it slide this time." Yuri says while squinting.

"Much appriciated." Taeyeon rolls her eyes.

"Wow, what a bitch." Jessica says in monotone.

"Thanks."

"Tell you what. Why don't you get a roommate?"

Taeyeon looks up from her food, interested in the topic, "Go on."

"I have this good friend from work who's looking for a good place to stay. If you offer her a good price, she might just consider living with you. That way you won't have to be alone anymore."

Taeyeon's eyes sparkle with a certain gleam, "...that...sounds...not bad at all, but I don't know...I haven't had a roommate since college."

Jessica smirks, "She's also very pretty too."

"Tell her to come look at the house whenever she wants!"

And that all it took to convince Taeyeon to get a roommate

* * *

...

Taeyeon stomped down her stairs. Determined to punch whoever is ringing her doorbell at 7 in the morning. She had stayed up all night playing video games and didn't turn up to bed until sunrise. The demons in her head are telling her to just grab her kitchen knife and cut this person's head off, but then she doesn't want to go to prison.

Once Taeyeon reaches the door, she turns the camera on to see who's the cause of the noise pollution in her house. The first thought in her head was, _what the hell does this woman want from me?_ \- and the second thought was, _Sweet murder_ \- With a deep sigh, Taeyeon opens her door.

"Good morning!" The girl says cheerfully with a smile brighter than the sun.

"..." Taeyeon stares silently with a suspicious frown on her face.

"I'm Tiffany." The girl says after seeing that there won't be a response from Taeyeon.

"..."

The girl's smile does not flicker, "I'm Jessica's friend. I'm here to look at the house. You're Taeyeon, right?"

Taeyeon gasps, remebering the conversation she had with her best friends a couple of weeks ago about getting a roommate, "Oh...yeah...come in..." she awkwardly steps aside, making way for Tiffany to enter. She watches Tiffany enter her space with a hair flip. At that moment, Taeyeon's brain stopped thinking rationally for a moment as she got a whiff of her guest's hair when she passed by.

"Could you please give me a tour?" Tiffany turns around and flashes Taeyeon her beautiful smile.

"...yeah...I could do that..." Taeyeon finally smiles back.

This woman is too damn gorgeos for her own good.

* * *

"This house is perfect!" Tiffany shot Taeyeon with another smile. For Taeyeon it felt like someone just actually really shot her because she couldn't breath anymore.

"Um." Taeyeon nods after clearing her throat.

"Shall we sit down and talk for a bit?" Tiffany asks, not questioning Taeyeon's behavior even though she hadn't muttered a single word for a while now after showing her around the house.

"O- Oh. Yeah. Um..." Taeyeon rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and offered Tiffany a seat in the living room, "Uh..."

Awkward silence. The smile hadn't left Tiffany's face all morning while Taeyeon is having a difficult time breathing the same air as this pretty girl. Moreover she might have to share this space with her in the future.

"How much do you have in mind for the rent?" Tiffany asks.

"I ah...I...I don't really know..." Taeyeon wanted to hit herself so bad. Why is she this nervous? She didn't know.

"How do you not know?" Tiffany tilts her head to the side with a small frown.

"Uh...you could just pay whatever..." Taeyeon shrugs.

Tiffany laughs, "Taeyeon-ssi, by that logic even a 100,000 won would be- "

"A 100,000 won will be okay."

Tiffany bursts out laughing even more and starts clapping her hands, "Taeyeon-ssi. Stop joking around. Who would rent out a house this big for 100,000 won?!"

"I...don't particularly care about money..." Taeyeon says quietly.

Tiffany frowns, "Then why get a roommate?"

"I'm...bored? I guess?"

Tiffany squints. That is the most suspicious excuse she had ever heard for getting a roommate. Who would sacrifice living space because they're bored? She chuckles awkwardly, "I...will trust you on that since you're close with Jessie. What about the bills though?"

"Since it's just me, the bills are really not that much." Taeyeon shrugs.

"But now it's going to be the two of us, so it will double." Tiffany smile no longer on her face because of how suspicious the situation seems. Although it improved Taeyeon's attitude drastically since she wasn't struggling for air anymore. "Bills should be split in half."

"Sure." Taeyeon nods.

Silence. Again.

"Don't you have any questions to ask me?" Tiffany asks awkwardly.

Taeyeon pauses for a moment before saying, "Not really."

 _What is this person?_ \- Tiffany thinks. "We will be living together. Don't you want to know what kind of person I am before hand?"

"Un." Taeyeon nods. Not really focusing on what Tiffany is saying because what matters the most right now is how much she's enjoying looking at this eye candy in front of her. Tiffany had chosen the wrong person to put effort into her make-up for.

"Well, I have a few questions if you don't mind." Tiffany says sternly.

"Sure." Taeyeon approves, finally snapping out of it.

"Okay," Tiffany nods. She had prepared to answer personal questions but it seems like her soon to be roommate does not have any interest in her life story. "What's your daily routine like? From the moment you open your eyes until you fall asleep, including the time please."

Taeyeon looks at empty space. Trying to remember what she does everyday, "Wake up whenever...play games on my phone for a few hours...wash up...play video games...sleep whenever."

"..."

"..."

"...what about work?"

"I'm unemployeed." Taeyeon says without patting an eye.

"...then how do you pay your bills?"

"I have some money saved up." She shrugs.

"So...you're a NEET?"

"Pretty much."

Tiffany looks down and shakes her head. _What is this person?_ \- she asks herself again, "Ok-...ay..." she raises her head and looks around the living room, "The house is pretty clean. How do you maintain such a large space?"

"An ajumma comes to clean once a week."

 _This person..._ \- Tiffany squints. "What do you do about food?"

"Chips and instant ramyun."

Tiffany's eyes travel down Taeyeon's body. That explains perfectly why she's this small with such an unhealthy diet. Tiffany sighs, "Okay then, do you have house rules or something like that?"

"Not really."

"What if I decided I wanted to have a party?"

"As long as no one comes into my room."

"What if I decided to bring a man home?"

"As long as he doesn't come into my room."

"What if I decided to walk around naked?"

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow and imagined the scene. Is that a trick question? "Sure. Why not?"

Tiffany leans back in her seat and sighs. Somehow talking to her future roommate is pretty draining. "All right. We can get an official contract written some other time, so for now..." She gets up, "I will be moving in tonight. I guess."

Taeyeon nods and follows Tiffany to the door, and waves at her when she bids good bye. While Taeyeon was all sunshine and roses because a pretty girl is moving in with her, Tiffany's mind was full of worries.

Tiffany thinks to herself. as she takes one last look at the house she will be moving in tonight - _As I thought, this person is...a hard one to crack._

* * *

"What the hell is in this box?!" Yuri yells. A big box in hand.

"Weights." Tiffany smiles sheepishly.

"What?!"

Today, Yuri and Jessica are helping Tiffany move into Taeyeon's house. Actually, it's just Yuri and Tiffany. Jessica is chilling in the living room under the air condition, watching Taeyeon play video games in front of the TV.

"I don't see what's so fun about this." Jessica shakes her head. She's currently laying on the couch. Her legs resting over Taeyeon's lap. Taeyeon too concentrated on her game to care.

"Because you're boring." Taeyeon says stoically.

"Yah." Too lazy to even respond loudly, Jessica kicks Taeyeon lightly.

"Jessie, what did you come here for?" Tiffany stands at the edge of the couch. Staring at Jessica upside down.

"Nothing in particular." Jessica says as she stretches her muscles.

"Oh my god. You're unbeliveable." Tiffany shakes her head. Her eyes travel up to Taeyeon who's busy with a fierce battle between her and a load shit of zombies. She grimaces when one of the zombies kills Taeyeon's character in such a gore filled scene. "Jesus Christ." she looks away, "Jessie, can I talk to you for a second?"

"No."

"Just get up!" Tiffany pulls Jessica off the couch with the other groaning in displeasure. Jessica is dragged to the second floor where there is Taeyeon's bedroom, her bedroom, and a couple of empty rooms, "What the hell is wrong with your friend?" Tiffany asks with a frown.

"A lot of things." Jessica says stoically.

"What?! Then why did you recommend me this place?!" Tiffany snaps.

"Because she wants a roommate and you don't want to stay with us anymore."

"Why is she so weird though?" Tiffany leans on the railing and looks down to the first floor where Taeyeon is. "I have never met someone this lacking of social skills ever."

Jessica chuckles, "She might lack social skills, but she's a good person."

"But, but- " Tiffany grabs her hair in frustration. She had broke up with her boyfriend a month ago and moved out of his apartment immediately, Jessica and Yuri welcomed her in their apartment but the couch isn't that comfortable, and honestly she's tired of hearing her best friends do their late night activity. Even though this is way better than the couch, this wasn't what Tiffany had in mind for a roommate.

"Hey, in just a couple of days you will see the good things about her. Don't worry." Jessica smiles and pats her fellow American friend's shoulder, "Besides, if you don't like it here, you can always come back with me and Yuri. You're always welcome."

Tiffany looks at her best friend's chocolate eyes, "No, thank you." With a sigh, Tiffany looks down at Taeyeon again only to find the other looking right back at her with her big eyes. "She really is cute, though."

"She is, isn't she?!" Jessica exclaims in delight, "See? You're already seeing the good things about her."

"Yah!" The two American friends look at the door to see Yuri standing there with a big box in hands and a pissed off expression, "Are you going to help me carry these inside or not?!"

Jessica and Tiffany look at each other then back at Yuri.

"Do you wanna see the view in my room?"

"Yeah, sure."


	2. Chapter 2

Sun light wakes Tiffany up from her sleep. The first thought in her mind was, _I hate mornings_. and the second was, _I need to buy some curtains._ A lost hand reaches for the bedside table, searching for her phone. When she looks at the time, she groans when she sees that her alarm is two minutes away from going off. She sighs and pulls herself off her new bed. She looks around her empty room and sighs again. She doesn't have any stuff to fill the room with since she left everything when she moved out of her ex's place and there is noway she's ever going back there. The bastard is probably still using them as if they're his.

First thing first, get up and get ready for work. Although Tiffany does have her dream job of being an editor for her favorite fashion magazine, it still is hard to get up in the morning when she doesn't get a good night's sleep. Mainly because it's a new bed and a new room. Still more comfy than YulSic's couch though.

With yet another sigh, Tiffany pulls herself off her new bed. She opens the windows and looks at the view of the back garden, the pool, and a fence separating them from their neighbors. The house itself is awfully quite as if she's the only one living here. Well, of course it's quite. Taeyeon is probably still asleep.

Of course she's still asleep. She doesn't have to wake up early, she's a NEET. Just thinking about it makes Tiffany's blood boil. How could someone like this exist? A weird ass personality. Absolutely no social skills. However, she's still managed to find good friends like Yuri and Jessica. Also...she's not that bad to look at. The only excuse Tiffany could think of for being like this is if her housemate had a bad childhood. Well, doesn't most people?

Last night, while she was bringing her stuff inside the house, Taeyeon who was playing video games suddenly disappeared. According to Jessica, the girl's sleep schedule is a wreck. One day she would wake up in the morning and sleep at night like a healthy human being should. Sometimes she would sleep early morning and wake up late afternoon. Sometimes she would sleep at noon and wake up at night. That's why the young couple rarely ever hang out with their short friend. They never catch her awake in the right time.

Although she knew that Jessica and Yuri have a friend called Taeyeon since high school, but the two rarely could catch Taeyeon awake, nonetheless get the two of them to meet, but now...now she knows who Taeyeon is, and honestly...she doesn't like it that much. Taeyeon's lack of social skills and incredible laziness just...turned her off.

Thoughts of her house mate filling her mind. Not a good sign. Tiffany tries to shake it off by going into the shower and getting ready for work. When she goes down to the living room/kitchen, to her surprise, she finds her housemate awake. Sitting on the couch, controller in hand, head phones on, and all her focus is on the TV. She's playing video games. Again.

With a sigh, Tiffany goes down the steps, approaching her housemate. Since they're living together now, she might as well try to get along with her. She can't be a bad person since they have mutual friends. And so. Tiffany puts her signature smile on her face and taps Taeyeon's shoulder to grab her attention.

Taeyeon pauses the game, lowers the head phones to her neck, and finally looks back at Tiffany with her big eyes in which make Tiffany's heart squeeze a little. Taeyeon's face looked just like a baby's.

"Good morning!" Tiffany greets with a big smile.

Taeyeon jumps a little in her place, as if finally realizing that Tiffany is standing right behind her, "Uh...g- good morning."

 _Well, at least she knows how to return a greeting._ \- Tiffany thinks to herself, "When did you wake up?" she asks. A bit curios about Taeyeon's current sleeping schedule.

"Sunrise."

"I see. I'm going to work in a few minutes. What are you doing today?" Tiffany asks with a smile. Throwing a little shade in there.

Taeyeon looks down, thinking to herself, "Play games..." she says.

"Hmm." Tiffany nods with a smile still plastered on her face. It's just as she thought, "Since we have a pretty big TV here, why don't we watch a movie together tonight or something? You know, get to know each other and stuff."

"Huh?" Taeyeon is obviously taken aback. She looks down, clearly worried about something, "O-...kay...I guess."

"Great!" Tiffany flashes her eye smile, "I'm going to be late for work, so bye!"

"W- Wait!"

Just as Tiffany turns around to leave, Taeyeon stands on her knees on the couch and quickly holds Tiffany's wrist before she got too far to reach. Surprised by Taeyeon's sudden action, Tiffany looks back at her housemate, startled. As their eyes meet, Taeyeon immediately lets go of Tiffany's wrist and sits down.

"Sorry." She looks down and blushes. Embarrassed by her over dramatic action.

Tiffany smiles. Taeyeon really has such an adorable face. What a waste, "It's all right. What did you want?"

"Ahh...well..." Taeyeon immediately gets up and runs to the kitchen. Tiffany watches in amusement as Taeyeon comes back within two seconds. An iced star bucks cup in hand. "Sica told me that you like to get coffee in the morning before you go to work, so...uhm...I got you the one that you like..."

Tiffany's eyes widen as Taeyeon extends her hands to her with her favorite coffee in between. She doesn't know if she should feel touched or overwhelmed. "Wow...Taeyeon...thanks. Why did you do that though?" She asks as she accepts the tall cup.

"Um..." Taeyeon looks down and scratches the back of her neck awkwardly, "I'm sorry...I'm not good at ah...social interaction."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Tiffany nods.

"Ah...well," Taeyeon blushes, embarrassed with herself for being like this, "Since we're living together now...I don't want this to be awkward so...I will...I will try my best to...put in effort to get along..."

"Oh wow. Taeyeon, you don't know how assuring this is to hear for me." Tiffany exhales. She might have judged Taeyeon too quickly.

"O- Okay...but...if I do something that bothers you...please tell it to my face...I'm not good at catching hints...no matter how obvious they are." Taeyeon looks away, a traumatized look on her face.

Tiffany laughs a little, "Okay, I get it. Let's get along. Okay, Tae?"

Taeyeon is immediately stunned, her feet are glued to the floor and her shoulders immediately go stiff when her new housemate leans in and kisses her cheek softly before walking to the front door.

"I will see you later!"

When Taeyeon finally comes back to her senses, she walks back to the couch and sits down quietly. A few minutes pass. At this point, Taeyeon's whole body had turned into mush as she collapses face first on a cushion. She doesn't know how much time it will take for her to cool down, but she needs to soon, or else she might as well just melt.

On the other side, Tiffany is driving to work, humming while sipping her coffee that Taeyeon had conveniently gotten for her.

Maybe Taeyeon really isn't that bad.

* * *

...

Tiffany stood in front of the couch in silence. Her right eye twitching because of the sight in front of her. Her housemate as known as Kim Taeyeon is currently laying on the couch. Head phones on plugged to a controller. Eyes closed and mouth open, muttering a bunch of gibberish that Tiffany couldn't make out anything of. Also, her hoodie had ridden up and her navel is showing.

To say that Tiffany was disappointed is an understatement. Just 30 minutes ago she was so excited to be home and spend time with her new roomie, but after seeing her like this again, Tiffany is once again reminded that this girl is a NEET who sleeps and plays video games all day. Just, the worst kind of person in Tiffany's opinion.

With a sigh, she kneels in front of Taeyeon, takes off her head phones and the controller out of her hand gently and starts shakes her, "Taeyeon, wake up."

Taeyeon doesn't respond.

"Taeyeon, we agreed to watch a movie together. Get up."

Still no response from Taeyeon.

"At least go sleep in your bed. It's cold out here."

Nope.

With another sigh, Tiffany straightens up and ponders on what to do. Looking at Taeyeon, shaking her and asking her to wake up gently won't do. She could just scream in her ear but that's not a very nice thing to do especially since Taeyeon went through the trouble to buy her coffee that morning.

"I guess I've got no choice. I will bring your blanket. Forgive me for going into your room without permission." Tiffany says more to herself than Taeyeon and makes her way upstairs. She stands in front of Taeyeon's room and whispered another apology as she turns the doorknob as quietly as possible. Not like Taeyeon would hear it or anything.

As soon as she takes a step inside, she is immediately hit with a familiar smell. The room was dark so she couldn't see anything, but Tiffany knew this smell very well, after all, she did spend her high school days inhaling this smell. Once the light switch was found, Tiffany's eyes widen when she gets a good look at Taeyeon's bedroom.

More than a bedroom, it was as Tiffany thought, it's more like a library, and the familiar smell was old book paper. She stood there and stared in awe. The first thing in front of her is a shelf with only little space to go through on the side. Tiffany's original goal was to get Taeyeon's blanket but now after sorting out her priorities, Tiffany found that exploring Taeyeon's room came to be #1.

Without hesitation, Tiffany closes the door behind her and walks up to the shelf and to her surprise, most of the titles her eyes managed to catch a glimpse of were in English. She didn't want to take any books out since they were pressed against each other hard, such a shame she thought. She would just have to ask permission to see them from Taeyeon later.

On the far right to the shelf blocking her way was a small opening enough for one person to pass if they squeezed through. Tiffany made it a quest for herself to get through without touching the shelf at the front nor the one covering the right wall. So she did, although it grazed her shoulder just a little bit. Much to her disappointment.

To Tiffany's surprise, she found Taeyeon's bed...and a chair...and a big ass PC...surrounded by four walls made of book shelves and single tall shelf which is apparently filled with clothes. Taeyeon sleeps here every night. Taeyeon doesn't just sleep here in the middle of this fort like room every night but she also stays in this room for days and nights, with the smell of wood, dust, old books, and no window to be seen. Probably blocked by one of the shelves.

At this point, Tiffany was concerned about Taeyeon. This is very unhealthy. But right now Tiffany was concerned about something else. She was concerned about Taeyeon sleeping on the couch with her navel exposed in the middle of winter. That she would definitely get sick of right away. And so with her original goal in mind, Tiffany retrieves Taeyeon's blanket from her bed. It was a Minions blanket which made Tiffany try to recall if her housemate told her her age or not.

The sound of Taeyeon sneezing downstairs cut Tiffany's trail of thoughts short. She was immediately reminded that she was trespassing and ran out the room as fast as she could not forgetting to turn off the lights and close the door as silently as possible. She looked over the railing and saw that Taeyeon was still asleep but changed positions. Her heart was beating so fast because of the thought of getting caught trespassing but then again, Taeyeon would find out anyway when she wakes up and sees her blanket over her.

As Tiffany walked over to her shorter housemate, she saw that Taeyeon's hoodie had ridden up even more reveling a sight that broke Tiffany's heart a little. Taeyeon was so thin to the point that her ribs were visibly sticking out. It wasn't a sight of horror but it said a lot about Taeyeon's eating habits. Tiffany hesitated but ended up with a finger on Taeyeon's pale skin, feeling her ribs. The girl is so pale, not to the sickly point. It suited Taeyeon's features but she definitely needed to go out in the sun more.

Shaking her head, Tiffany gently lowered Taeyeon's hoodie and covered her with her own blanket in which Taeyeon immediately snuggled to. Tiffany stood there, staring at her sleeping housemate, not knowing what to do next. Her mind was so busy thinking of why someone could be like this. She have met introverted people in her life, hell Jessica is introverted, but Taeyeon takes the price.

A shut in, socially awkward NEET with an unhealthy lifestyle.

This is Tiffany's housemate.

This won't do.

None of this will do for Tiffany who's a workaholic and cares about her diet and body fitness more than anything else.

Taeyeon must be fixed.

With a better life in mind, Tiffany is gladly taking the quest of fixing her.

* * *

...

Tiffany slowly opens her eyes, adjusting to the slight sun light that is entering her room through the thin curtains. Her curtains are pink which makes her whole room pink when the sun is up. It's a nice sight to wake up to for Tiffany. First thing she does is retrieve her phone from the bedside table.

It's 7:34 at a Saturday morning. It's Tiffany's day off. It's been a week since she moved in with Taeyeon and she's got to say, it's very comfortable. Every morning she wakes up, the house is quite. She goes to work and comes back and the house is still quite. She eats. She watches TV. She goes to sleep and it's very quite. Although it shouldn't since there is someone else living in the same house as her but she's living as if she's alone.

All signs of someone living with her are the disappearing instant cup ramyun from one of the cupboards in which she later in the same day finds it empty in the trash can and a single fork in the dishwasher. It's as if she's living with a ghost, that's what Tiffany feels like. The last time she saw Taeyeon was five days ago when she saw her sleeping on the couch when she came back from work.

With the memory of Taeyeon's ribs sticking out, Tiffany immediately got energized and pulled herself off of bed. She opens her curtains, her windows, and takes a deep breath. The air is fairly chilly since the seasons are changing between winter and spring, the sun doesn't burn and in Tiffany's opinion, it's the perfect day to go out for a run and try to fall back into the routine she abandoned when she moved in with Jessica and Yuri.

Today however, she plans on having a companion.

With a bright smile, Tiffany freshens up, pulls her hair up and throws on her favorite pink workout clothes. After preparing to go out, she makes her way to Taeyeon's room, with the smile still plastered on her face, she knocks.

No answer.

She knocks again.

No answer.

A minute passes and she knocks for the third time.

Still no answer.

Hoping that Taeyeon won't mind, Tiffany twists the door knob slowly and careful not to make any noise. She is once again faced with a large book shelf that is blocking the view of everything behind it. Tiffany takes a deep breath and the smell of old books and paper takes her back on a journey to her high school days. She loves that smell.

With Taeyeon's well-being in mind, Tiffany tiptoes to the small opening on the right, the only way to access Taeyeon's room any further and she sticks her head slowly to see what Taeyeon is doing, hopefully without alerting her.

To her surprise, Taeyeon was not asleep. In fact, she's wide awake, sitting in front of her large screen with big headphones on that Tiffany could faintly hear music from. She's tapping away on her keyboard with a microsoft word page open. Tiffany wonders what Taeyeon is writing, but that's not what she's concerned about right now.

"Taeyeon?" She calls. softly.

Taeyeon pauses whatever she's doing but to Tiffany's distaste, she continues typing away as if she hadn't heard anything. Tiffany figured she should call her name louder since she has headphones on.

"Taeyeon!" Tiffany calls again. Louder this time. Still, Taeyeon doesn't even pause this time and continues typing away which frustrates Tiffany, and so, she steps fully inside the room, her shoulder slightly grazing the shelf on her right and she has to walk side ways in between the shelf and the end of Taeyeon's bed, "Taeyeon." She calls one more time as she knocks on the table.

Alerted by the sudden hand on the table, Taeyeon lets out a yelp and jumps in her seat. She looks at Tiffany with wide eyes and a hand on her chest as she tries to calm down her raging heart by taking quick breathes in and out, "What..." she lowers her headphones to her neck and backs away with her chair, "What...are you...doing here?"

Tiffany smiles, satisfied to have finally gotten Taeyeon's attention, "Hi." she greets.

"H- Hi..." Taeyeon greets back.

"Good morning."

"Uhm...good morning." Taeyeon looks down shyly and and greets Tiffany back awkwardly.

"Taeyeon?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go on a run with me?"

Taeyeon's head snaps up, "A-...a run?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- "

"SHUT UP AND KEEP UP YOU WEAKLING!"

At this point, Taeyeon is on the verge of crying. Her clothes are sticking to her body because of the excessive sweating. Her windpipe is burning because of the lack of oxygen, her face is bright red, her hair is sticking to the side of her face, and her legs feel like they're going to fall off, "T- Tiffany...I... _*pant* *pant*_...I don't think I can go on any longer." she says.

"Oh my god! Taeyeon, it's been only three minutes!"

It really actually had been only three minutes since Tiffany managed to convince Taeyeon to _go out_ to their backyard and _run_ with her and Taeyeon already looks like she ran a whole marathon. This might be Taeyeon's greatest regret. Why did she agree to this is beyond her - _Tiffany was smiling at her and she looked really pretty._ She finally stops and sits down on the swing hanging on the big tree. Completely giving up.

On the other side, Tiffany is feeling disappointed with Taeyeon, yet again. Is this what a parent feel like when they see their child give up? Tiffany wouldn't know but she knew that she sure didn't want to be a parent if her child turns out to be like Taeyeon. That's the whole reason why she's trying to...fix the girl up? but apparently, Taeyeon is refusing to be fixed with her whole body and Tiffany isn't liking it one bit.

"Taeyeon...get up. At least make it to 15 minutes and you can stop." Tiffany says as she comes to a stop in front of Taeyeon.

Taeyeon coughs as she struggles with air, "Tiffany... _*pant* *pant*_ thank you for inviting me to run with you...but, I don't think this is my forte..."

"Don't give up so easily, Taeyeon! You're just weak because you probably hadn't made any effort with your body in a long time." Tiffany crouches and smiles up at Taeyeon, trying to cheer her up.

Taeyeon clenches her eyes shut and shakes her head, "I hadn't...*pant*...ran...*cough*...in years."

"Oh gosh..." Tiffany face palms, "Why?"

Upon hearing the disappointed tone in Tiffany's voice, Taeyeon opens her eyes, "I'm just...not physically built well enough for this kind of activity."

"Yeah, I can see that." Tiffany shakes her head, "Are you perhaps ill in anyway?"

"What? No!" Taeyeon shakes her head furiously.

"Then there is nothing stopping you from trying to do this kind of activity. Even the strongest of muscle men weren't born with their muscles. It takes time and effort to build them."

"But I don't want to build muscles."

"I'm not saying that you should build muscles. I'm saying that it takes time and effort to do something and you don't even want to continue trying to do something as simple as running for a mere 15 minutes."

"And what will I achieve exactly from running for 15 minutes everyday?!"

"A healthy body! That's what you will achieve!"

"My body doesn't bother me!"

"Well, it bothers me!"

"Why?!"

"Because your ribs are sticking out and it's disturbing!"

It wasn't until the words came out of her mouth did Tiffany realize that she just stepped over a line by the look on Taeyeon's face. She watched as Taeyeon was taking aback by what she said, surprise and hurt visible on her face.

"T-...Taeyeon, I'm sorry I didn't mean to- "

Tiffany couldn't continue her sentence because the moment she opened her mouth again, Taeyeon glared at her and stood up.

"Well, sorry that my body isn't up to your standers, but guess what? It's none of your god damn business."

With that, Taeyeon leaves. Tiffany stands up and watches her housemate go back inside. It really is none of her business.

Tiffany sighs to herself.

She might have fucked up.


	3. Chapter 3

"You did what?!" Yuri exclaims, "Tiff, what the hell! We told you to try and get her out of her room not shut her in more!"

"I know! I know! I'm sorry!"

"Don't say sorry to me! Say it to Taeyeon!" Yuri says in panic.

"Poor thing...she's probably depressed right now." Jessica glances up at the second floor, worried about Taeyeon's well being.

Tiffany sighs, "I don't understand...how can someone be like that...how can someone look like that...why are you friends with such a person?" she asks in frustration.

Yuri smiles, remembering their high school days. By the time she was a senior, she found herself completely engrossed with thoughts of the ice princess, Jessica Jung. Back in high school, she was very well known. First for her unreal beauty. Second, for being an honor student. Third, there was a rumor going around that says, if you meet eyes with her, you won't be able to move. You will freeze, thus the nickname Ice Princess.

One day, Yuri was walking down the hallway with a bunch of textbooks that she had to deliver to the staff room. She bumped into someone and that someone just happened to be Jessica Jung. Their eyes met. The rumor turned out to be true. As if she turned into ice, Yuri froze in her place and couldn't move a single muscle as Jessica smiled at her and handed her back the textbooks she dropped. Yuri stayed frozen in place until her friends found her later.

Nobody knows what it is about Jessica's eyes. It might be her unreal beauty. It might be her cute smile. It might be her unapproachable aura. It might be her scary glare. But everyone who meets eyes with Jessica for the first time freezes. It was called the Jessica effect. It wasn't anything she did or said, but everyone knew their place and stayed away.

The thing about Jessica is, she didn't have any friends other than a little pale girl who goes unnoticed when she passes by and stumbles with a light gust of air. It was Taeyeon. Everyone knew she was Jessica's friend so no one dared to approach her. Automatically assuming that she's the same as the Ice Princess because she was her only company.

The thing was, Yuri had began to get a bit too obsessed with the Ice Princess, causing her to ignore all her friend's warnings and one day approached the girl. Asking if she could sit with her and Taeyeon during lunch. To Yuri's and everybody's surprise. Jessica smiled and politely welcomed Yuri. That's when Yuri realized, Jessica is no scary Ice Princess. She was just an introverted sweet girl while Taeyeon was just a games oppressed geek who preferred to look at her screen than look at her pretty friend.

Being also a gaming geek, Yuri and Taeyeon clicked right away. When Jessica was asked why she befriended Taeyeon, she said that Taeyeon happened to be in the seat next to her and is just the right amount of calm for Jessica's liking.

Taeyeon was always a woman with few words, but when she opened her mouth, it either got weird or perverted, sometimes mean. The girl had and still has no common sense at all. If Jessica and Yuri weren't such weird people themselves, today Taeyeon perhaps will stand alone with no friends whatsoever. She's the kind of person that when you start asking questions about, you will continue asking and things will only get too complicated to understand.

Yuri sighs with a smile, "That's just how Taeyeon is. She's too complicated to understand."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH HER?!"

"BECAUSE SHE'S A GOOD PERSON! SHE'S FUN TO BE AROUND AND A GREAT HELP WHEN NEEDED! GET A CLUE BITCH!" Jessica yells in english.

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?!"

"BECAUSE YOU STARTED YELLING!"

"BOTH OF YOU STOP YELLING! YOU'LL WAKE TAEYEON UP!"

Just as Yuri said that, both Jessica and Tiffany glance at the second floor for a moment and wait a few seconds. Thankfully, it seems like Taeyeon hadn't woken up. Yuri checked on her when they first got there earlier that evening and she was in deep slumber.

"I still don't understand." Tiffany shakes her head and sighs for the nth time that night, "How could someone be like this! I hadn't met anyone like her before."

Jessica nods, "Taeyeon might be one in million."

Yuri squints, "Well, her home situation _is_ a bit complicated so that might have played a role into forming her as the person she is today."

Tiffany chuckles sarcastically, "Let me guess, insensitive assholes of parents who wanted of her more than she could achieve thus she locked herself and turned to video games as an escape."

"What? No. What are you talking about?" Yuri says after a moment of silence.

Tiffany gives another sarcastic smile, "Okay, okay, tell me. What kind of people were her wonderful rich parents."

Yuri frowns, "Why do you keep saying rich parents?"

Tiffany laughs, "Oh, come on, she's a 25 years old NEET yet she lives in this big ass house all alone and she doesn't give a fuck about a penny. If her parents aren't rich then I don't know where all these _savings_ are coming from."

Jessica and Yuri look at each other with a frown then face Tiffany, "Tiff, Taeyeon is not a NEET." Jessica says while Yuri got up and started searching for something in the cabinet under the TV where Taeyeon's video games are located.

Tiffany frowns, "What do you mean? She told me herself that she's a NEET and she stays at home playing video games all day. What else could she possibly be?"

"She's this person." Yuri says as she drops a bunch of books on the coffee table.

"What's this?" Tiffany grabs one, "If I Had A Million Dollars by Erika Kim." Just by reading the title, Tiffany is bought to a nostalgic state. Being bullied in high school for being bad at Korean was a nightmare for Tiffany. So she always trapped herself in the school's library and read books. This book in specific was the first work of fiction that ever bought her to tears.

It talks about a little girl from a poor family. A dad who was drowning in debt and ran away, leaving her waitress mom to pay it. A bed ridden grand dad who doesn't remember who he is. A big brother who fights and comes back with blood and bruises everyday, and a little sister who steals. It's a truly sad story talking about several heartbreaking events in the little girls life and how she every night before bed wished from the stars to give her a million dollars. Thinking to herself that the money will fix all of their problems and bring her family together again.

The book was so successful it got turned into a movie a few years back.

"What do you mean she's this person?" Tiffany squints as she opens the book and the familiar words start going in her head.

Jessica snatches the book from Tiffany's hand, "This, is Taeyeon's diary."

"Diary?" Tiffany frowns in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"It's exactly how it sounds." Yuri takes over the book and starts reading to herself, "Taeyeon started writing this when she was 7. It was the only way to vent, she said."

"What?" At this point, Tiffany is completely lost, "Is this a joke?"

"No, you idiot. Listen." Jessica smacks her, "This is Taeyeon's actual diary."

Tiffany had her mouth slightly open, clearly not understanding anything, "What?...but...Taeyeon is...Taeyeon was...Erika is...this is her diary? But this is fiction."

"It's not Tiff. It's real. Our high school didn't allow the students to get jobs even part-time so Taeyeon used the name Erika Kim as a pen name when she got signed."

"What?" Tiffany laughs nervously, "If this is a prank, I'm not appreciating it you two, so stop it!"

In Tiffany's mind, she's really starting to believe what her two friends are saying because things are connecting. The possibility of Taeyeon being the famous writer Erika Kim is there. She could be.

"No no no, such a person cannot be Erika Kim!"

Yuri smiles as she grabs another book from the pile, "Did you read this one?" she asks.

"Which one?" Tiffany frowns as she reads yet another familiar title, "Understanding The Friendship Of Two Homo Sapiens." One of the books that affected Tiffany's mind set greatly. It's a third person point of view story about how two high school girls came to love and treasure each other and went through ups and downs just to be together. It was cute and heartwarming just like Yuri and Jessica.

And that's when it clicked.

The characters in this book are really actually Jessica and Yuri. This book tells their story in Taeyeon's point of view and describes every thought she had while watching her two friends grow closer to each other. It asks some amusing and weird questions. It talks about today's youth point of view on homosexuality. It talks about how schools dealt with it and how parents reacted to it. It talks about higher power, but most importantly, the cute relationship the Korean girl YuIseol and the American girl Jay had.

This book is truly a masterpiece that Tiffany loved to re-read a lot. First to enjoy reading about the detailed relationship between the characters. And second, it was the reason why Tiffany asked herself for the first if she liked girls and came to terms with her bisexuality. It meant a lot to her.

"Oh my god..." Tiffany says slowly in English. The realization of who Taeyeon really is scaring her so bad her body literally started shaking. She grabbed another book, and another, and another. She had read all 5 of them and loved them all to pieces. Tiffany loved Erica Kim to pieces. She's her favorite author, and now she realizes that someone she admires turned out to be such a...such a tactless person. It's a pretty big shock.

"Nonononono NO NO NO NO NO, THIS CAN'T BE!" Tiffany clenches her hair in frustration.

"Tiff calm down,"

Tiffany puts her hands on her ears, covering the noise of her friend's voices trying to calm her down. There is no coming back from this. She wishes she never read any of these books. She wishes she never got to admire Erika Kim, and she wishes she never met Taeyeon, just so she won't have to feel this incredible sense of...disappointment.

"Good morning." It was midnight.

All three friends look up to see Taeyeon ascending the stairs with a hoodie covering her raven hair and half of her sleepy cute face.

"Hey Taeng." A smile splits Yuri's face in half.

"Slept well?" Jessica asks with a similar smile.

"Un." Taeyeon nods as she takes out a bottle of water from the fridge and starts drinking it.

Tiffany suddenly gets up, surprising Jessica and Yuri. She furiously walks towards Taeyeon with an unreadable expression on her face. Once she is standing face to face with Taeyeon, Taeyeon slowly lowers the water bottle from her mouth and looks away awkwardly. Embarrassed by the close proximity of Tiffany's pretty face.

"NO!"

Startled by the sudden loudness, Taeyeon drops her bottle and watches in surprise as Tiffany climbs the stairs she came down from. She stops and looks at Taeyeon one more time, "Just so you know, I will never approve of you."

Completely clueless of what's going on, Taeyeon immediately started getting nervous and fidgety. "Did I do something wrong?" She turns to her best friends for help.

"No no, don't worry Tae." Jessica picks Taeyeon's bottle and lowers her hoodie to stroke her soft hair. Taeyeon is the cutest when she's just woken up.

"Don't worry about her, Taeng. She'll come around eventually." Yuri laughs.


	4. Chapter 4

Tiffany looks over the railing of the second floor to the first floor where Taeyeon is seated. Headphones on and controller in hand. Eyes glued to the screen not noticing the glare Tiffany is currently directing at her.

It's been a week.

One whole week since Tiffany found out who Taeyeon really is and what she does, and it all makes sense now. Someone as socially awkward with such bad habits as Taeyeon's could only have suffered from a childhood as bad as the one written in the book, If I Had A Million Dollars. It all made sense.

Tiffany had the book between her hands. With every line she reads she glances up at Taeyeon, not believing that this person had wrote the piece of art between her hands, more over went through it.

The book starts with a 6 years old little girl named Im Taeyoung describing the scene in front of her. Her parents were fighting. It described how confused she was. How her little sister held on to her. How her older brother couldn't stand being there, and how her grand dad didn't even remember who any of them were to even help.

Taeyeon described how her friends suddenly weren't around her anymore. It described how their mothers kept them away from her because her family was bad. As in her Dad borrows money from people and pretends that he doesn't even know them the next day, and second because her older brother hung out with bad people, as in he was dragged in a gang feud which Taeyeon didn't understand what any of that had to do with her at that time.

Then it follows how Taeyeon and her little sister watched their Dad come back home from work early one day, pack his things quickly in a panicked matter, told them that he's going on a trip and will be back soon and hugged them and kissed their foreheads as if it's the last time he'll ever see them. Tiffany's eyes always watered when she read that scene because she remembered how her Mother bid her last good bye to her on her death bed.

The situation got even worse. It turned out that her Dad had left a huge debt behind for her mother to pay. Instead of two, Taeyeon's mother has got now 4 jobs just so they can scrap by. Her older brother almost never came back home, and her little sister stopped talking completely when she realized that her Dad is not coming back. Leaving now pre-teen Taeyeon all alone to take care of her grand dad's needs.

One day, strangers knocked on their door. They were men dressed in uniforms and had their caps held in their hands. It was a bad day when the news of her older brother's death broke in. Her older brother was never home because he couldn't stand being in the same room as their parents who resolved to screaming at each other's faces whenever a small problem accord. but all Taeyeon could do was cry, cry, and cry, then move on because the world didn't stop.

A few years later, next in line was her grand dad who finally couldn't open his eyes for a new day. It was hard enough that he had amnesia, but it's not like Taeyeon truly understood why he couldn't remember who she was. Not like they spent anytime together anyway. He was like that as long as she could remember.

The tragedy didn't stop there, however. 13 years old Taeyeon one day came back from school to find her little sister naked in a bloody bathtub. She had took her last breath hours ago when Taeyeon left for school, and it's not like their mother was ever home to notice anything.

With that, all who's left in the Im family is now teenage Taeyeon and her busy mother who still struggled to pay the bills even with decrease of the people she's supporting. Debt left her absolutely breathless until the point that there were some nights Taeyeon had to go to sleep hungry. All the teenager ate was instant ramen and cheap snacks for meal. That's where it ticked for Tiffany. Taeyeon couldn't break away from her old eating habits.

A light of hope in the shape of a man appears in Taeyeon's mother's life. A rich business man apparently fell in love with her mother when she served him coffee one morning. Upon seeing how much she was struggling, he freed them from all financial problems in exchange for her hand in marriage. A new Dad has appeared. A kinder, nicer, smarter, and better looking Dad took over everything the mother and daughter struggled with.

It was the start of a new chapter. A better and happier life which at that point, the reader wishes for Taeyoung who they grew fond of to just finally find happiness and start living normally. Then the end of the book comes around, little Taeyoung had reached the age of 15. Her new father in law had moved her and her mother with him away from Seoul the rowdy city, and to Jeonju, back to their home town to the calming and healing atmosphere.

 _My Mom told me to live to be happy. When I thought about it carefully, I realized that it wasn't that much. When I finally get to eat after being hungry for a long time, I feel happy._

 _Then I find myself repeating the same question over and over in my head._

 _What is happiness?_

The book ends with that question. Until this day, Tiffany hadn't found her answer. She looks down from the final book page to steal a glance of Taeyeon who hadn't noticed her standing up there watching her for the last possibly 4 hours that Tiffany took to finish the book.

With a sigh, Tiffany closes the book and stretches. Her back is killing her from standing in the same spot for way too long. A week ago, when she first found out who Taeyeon really is, she was angry, but now that a few days had passed without catching a sight of Taeyeon, she had calmed down drastically. Because, at the end of the day, Taeyeon, who to an outsider is a failur as an adult. Is the same person Tiffany admires so much. Her favorite author. Everything wasn't what it seemed like.

She didn't know what to think of the girl anymore.

* * *

...

Taeyeon woke up that morning feeling tired. Her body ached a little bit. She accidently fell asleep while sitting in front of her PC with the room lights on and that's never a good thing. She moved to bed, the desire to go back to sleep dominating her will, but she realized that that's never going to happen after tossing and turning for an hour. In the end, she decided to get up and give in to her body's need for relief.

Although there are three baths in the house, Taeyeon knew that Tiffany uses the same bath as her, the one in the second floor. However, she wondered why she never bumps into the girl. They never see each other even though it's been over a month since Tiffany moved in. Not like Taeyeon would know how long it's been, she doesn't even know what time it is right now.

She struts in the second floor, from her room to the bathroom and to the laundry room. There, she was going to take the already clean and folded clothes that the maid who comes in every week washed, but the sound of water splashing coming in from the open window distracted her from her task.

Slowly approaching the window with curiosity, Taeyeon had difficulty keeping her eyes open because of the sun light. She hadn't seen sun light since Tiffany convinced her to come out and run with her a few weeks ago. It's not like she hates going outside, she's just scared of human interaction. If Taeyeon was the only person alive, she wouldn't spend a second indoors.

Taeyeon goes into a fit of coughs when she sees what the splashing sound was. Down at the pool was Tiffany, her housemate. In a bikini. Swimming under the soft sun. It was still a bit chilly but clearly that didn't stop Tiffany from striping and taking a dip in what seems to be warm water judging from the slight fog coming out of it.

"Good morning sunshine!"

Taeyeon's eyes widen when she sees Tiffany waving at her from down there. She raised her hand and waved back slowly after fidgeting in place for a few seconds.

"Come swim with me! The water feels good!" Tiffany yelled with a smile brighter than the sun. Good morning sunshine indeed.

"Ahhhham..." Taeyeon let out a weird noise as a respond. She didn't let it out intentionally, it just come out on its own when Tiffany's chest jiggled as she moved.

"What?" Tiffany frowned, thinking that she didn't hear Taeyeon properly.

"I mean...I can't swim." Taeyeon says in a not as much as a yell, she just raised her voice a notch which is a record for what Tiffany heard of her so far.

"What?! Then why did you buy a house with a pool?" Tiffany questions in confusion.

"I like the house and the pool came with it!"

Tiffany face palms and shakes her head, "Just come down here!" she orders. With a bit of hesitation, Taeyeon steps away from the window and makes her way down the stairs, to the back door and to the backyard where Tiffany is waiting for her in the water with a smile. "Took you long enough." she says.

Taeyeon stares down at Tiffany with nervous expression. To her, every time she sees the other girl she seems to only be getting prettier and prettier than the last time she saw her. In this case...sexier and sexier.

"Hi." Tiffany says with a smile after the two of them shared a few seconds of weirdly intimate eye contact.

"H- Hi..."

"Brace your self."

Taeyeon didn't even have time to react because before she even knew it, she's been pulled by the edge of her hoodie to the water, hitting it face first. It was a little painful but that's not what Taeyeon was concerned about at the moment. She couldn't swim and that fact didn't magically change by her touching the water. She flailed her arms and legs around inside but before she swallowed any water, she find herself above breathing air. Gasping for it, actually.

"Wha-...What...?" Taeyeon closed her eyes tightly as she gasped for air. It wasn't even two seconds she spent under water but she was so scared for her life for those two seconds she ended up like that.

"You okay?"

"I-...yeah...I think so." Taeyeon nodded, finally opening her eyes. She had never seen anyone with skin as clear as this woman in front of her. She's so close to Tiffany she could tell the woman had no pores on her face. Such a beautiful face Tiffany has. Such pretty eyes. Such long eyelashes, and such a beautiful smile. She's so close Taeyeon could smell the mint of her toothpaste and a hint of berries.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Tiffany said with a giggle.

"It's just...you're so pretty..."

A knowing smile slowly made itself apparent on Tiffany's face. Her cheeks were slightly flushed because of the hot water, but even if she wasn't in hot water, her cheeks would still be red, but Taeyeon would never know that or think anything of it. _Not like there was anything of it in the first place_ , Tiffany thought. "Well, aren't you sweet? Thank you!" she says with a wide smile. Her eyes turning to crescents again.

Taeyeon's eyes sparkled at the sight, the girl in front of her was too pretty for her own good, but right now, something else occupied her mind. How is she still afloat? She can't swim. So she looks down, and once the realization of the position she's currently in sinks in, she let's out a yelp before trying to pray herself off of Tiffany. Tiffany was hugging her tightly and closely. They were face to face, chest to chest, bodies pressed against each other as close as humanly possible, and Tiffany didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"Taeyeon! Calm down! You don't want to drawn, do you?" Tiffany yelled, trying to get a hold of Taeyeon's arms once again.

Once the word drawn sank in Taeyeon's head, she immediately stopping moving around and hugged Tiffany back just as tightly. Scared for her life. Not just because she was scared of drowning but also because her heart was beating too hard and too fast out of nervousness. She had never been this close to someone ever, not even with Yuri and Jessica.

"Good...just relax...trust me..."

A rush of goose bumps erupted on Taeyeon's spine the moment Tiffany started talking really close to her ear. She wasn't whispering but it was low enough to make Taeyeon's heart beat sky rocket.

It was at that moment, Taeyeon knew, she's going to die of a heart attack one day and the cause is the unreal hotness of her housemate. If that ever really happens, Taeyeon thinks that she wouldn't mind it one bit.


	5. Chapter 5

"So?...how does it feel?"

"...pretty serene..."

"Told yah."

Taeyeon stared at the clear blue sky. Not a cloud was up there. The sun light was comforting in a way, but Taeyeon knew her skin was getting damaged because of the lack of sun screen and the extreme sensitivity of her pale skin. However, right now she paid no mind to that. Actually, she's paying no mind to anything. Her head is completely empty.

After much convincing and struggling, Tiffany managed to force Taeyeon to lay down on top of the water. To just relax and let her body get carried by the warm comfort. Although terrified of drowning, Taeyeon realized that no matter what she says and what she does, she won't be able to get away from her housemate's clutches because she was the one holding on to the girl for dear life. Basically she was left no choice but to do what Tiffany told her to.

In the end, Taeyeon was glad she did. She's trying something outrageously new for the first time in forever. To a normal human being, this was nothing close to outrageous, but Taeyeon wasn't normal by all means. For her, outrageous is something other than trying to change the flavor of her cup ramyun or buying a new video game.

Since she purchased the house she attempted to use the pool once. Filled it up, and dipped her toes in before sitting on the edge. She sat there for 30 minutes having an inner fight with her self, even though she had a floatie on, she didn't dare to fully get in the water and in the end, the water used to fill the pool was wasted. It just staid there for months until winter's cold froze it completely. It was fun for Taeyeon to watch the ice break once it started melting.

Although, Taeyeon felt sorry for the house keeper who cleaned the pool ground after draining it. It was a disaster and her house keeper isn't that young. After that, Taeyeon gave the poor old ajumma a raise and never filled the pool ever again. One, because she knows she will never get the courage to actually go in the water, and second she doesn't want to give the old ajumma a hard time, she already maintains her whole house.

Never ever had she thought that one day would come when she will find herself floating ears deep on the water of her pool. Without a floatie to note. Taeyeon felt thankful to Tiffany for forcing her to have this simple but new experience.

"What are you thinking about?" Tiffany asked, she had been watching Taeyeon for a while now and her face expression didn't change once. She looked at the sky in daze. Eyes as blank as a room with no light sources whatsoever and her mouth slightly open.

"Nothing really..." Taeyeon says, eyes not moving from the clear sky.

A moment of silence took place between them. Taeyeon still lost in her own world while Tiffany hesitating to try and knock on Taeyeon's door. She tried knocking before and ended up hurting Taeyeon while doing so, but now...she thinks she might have done something right because she and Taeyeon are actually spending some quality time together, although it was forced upon the other girl, she doesn't seem to mind it right now.

So, Tiffany looks down at the water and takes a deep breath, if she wants to help Taeyeon out, Taeyeon needs to accept her help, but first things first, she needs to get the shorter girl to trust her. "Taeyeon-ah..." she calls softly. Taeyeon looks at her with the same dazed expression. Waiting for her to continue, "When I was 11...my mom...died of cancer."

Upon hearing that, Taeyeon's face immediately softened up. All too familiar with the topic of losing someone dear herself, she didn't know what to say. Because nothing people said to her made her feel better. It's just that the pain lessened as time went by.

"You don't have to say anything, it's okay." Tiffany quickly said after seeing how nervous Taeyeon was getting. She could tell by the way she looked away and glanced at her only to look away again, "I was born in America you know, so my Korean wasn't that good when my Dad and I moved here by the time I was in high school. I thought the bullying in America was bad, but when I came her, it was nothing compared to it."

Taeyeon let out a frustrated sigh through her nose upon remembering her childhood and early teenage years. Prior to Jessica, and prior to Yuri. Prior to anything good in her life. Although the two of them were bullied for completely different reasons, they weren't too far apart. They were in the same boat. Taeyeon didn't know if she should be glad for that or just feel sorry for the both of them alike.

Tiffany smiles, "So, I went to the library often, I read every book in front of me, and in there I found one, a new one I liked very much. One about a little girl whose Dad ran away from home, leaving her waitress Mom to pay his debt. A sick granddad with two siblings unattended. Do you know it?"

Clearly disturbed, Taeyeon looks up at the sky and starts blinking in a rapid matter, "Y- Y- Y- Yeah, I know it." nervous of having accidently stuttered one too many time, Taeyeon turns to her left, her face away from Tiffany's view.

Although still anxious of asking, Tiffany swims a little closer to Taeyeon, bodies almost touching, "Erika Kim. That's the name of the author of that story..."

She wanted to speak up. To say _I see_ or _Is that so?,_ but Taeyeon knew if she opened her mouth, she will just stutter more and it will get her more nervous and she will start fidgeting and drawn. Her imagination was wild, for that, she chose to shut her mouth.

"Taeyeon..." Tiffany swallows roughly, pretty excited to hear what Taeyeon has to say, "Erika Kim...that's you, isn't it?"

Silence.

All Tiffany could hear is the sound of crows cawing into the sunset and a motorbike passing through their usually quite neighborhood, but in half a second when the crows were silent and the motorbike passed by, Tiffany heard it.

"...yeah."

It was very soft, but Tiffany heard it clearly. It's not like she didn't believe Jessica and Yuri. She just wanted to hear it coming out of Taeyeon's own mouth. After all, for the past week, she's been browsing through the internet for information about Erika Kim that might lead back to Taeyeon.

All she found were interviews for magazines that she had read before and a Wikipedia page that tells on how mysterious Erika Kim is and the only info it provided was about her net worth, the movie based on one of the books, the short list of her books, their release date, number of sales and translations and professional stuff like that. Nothing personal. No pictures at all. Taeyeon's writing is completely anonymous.

"...how did you know?" Taeyeon speaks softly again. Nervous of what she might hear. She's been working anonymously for the past 10 years and she's not planning on ever changing that. She doesn't have any good memories with attention thus why she's like this today.

"Don't worry, it's not obvious. Yuri and Jessica told me."

Taeyeon noticeably relaxed her body that was tensing up again. She finally turned back to Tiffany but before she could say anything, the other girl beat her to it.

"I will keep it a secret..." Tiffany smirks, "...in exchange for some answers."

Taeyeon opens her mouth and closes it before opening it again just like a fish, "Why-...wait-...you don't have to blackmail me, you can just ask away and I will give you the answer if I have one." she says. Obviously upset with Tiffany's approach.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Can I really ask away? Anything? Even personal?" Tiffany asks, unfazed by Taeyeon's reaction.

Taeyeon shrugs, "Sure, but no blackmailing." she points an accusing finger.

"Alright, sorry, sorry." Tiffany chuckles and lowers Taeyeon's pointer back into the water, "Okay, I have a lot of questions, but I don't know where to start."

Taeyeon sighs and looks the other away. A part of her is nervous and the other part is having an odd moment of deja vu. This situation is all too familiar to her. It's just like when Yuri found out who she really was. She said the same words as Tiffany and chose the same methods to get the much desired information out of her.

"So, first question..."

Taeyeon sighs again, she really hopes this ends quickly because her fingers are starting to get uncomfortably wrinkly under the water. Not like she could get out on her own anyway.

* * *

...

"Tiffany-ssi..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm really cold..."

"Oh, sorry. That took longer than I thought." Tiffany says, looking around them. The sky was completely dark. The only source of light were the lights inside the pool. It's clear that they both lost track of time while talking. Mostly about Taeyeon.

It's not like Taeyeon minded being milked out for information, she just rather it could have happened in a better setting. The couch in the living room or even her fort. Although, there is something quite nice about being able to see your hot housemate wet and half naked.

"Okay, I'm gonna help you out now, but after one more question." Tiffany gave a devious look.

"Spare me please! I just basically told you my life story! At least let me be the one who does the asking!" Taeyeon whined.

A fond smile could be seen slowly making itself apparent on Tiffany's face, "You wanna know about me?" she asks.

"Yeah?" Taeyeon says with a frown. Confused on why Tiffany had to ask that.

"I thought you didn't care..." Tiffany says quietly.

"I didn't care, but after telling you half my secrets, now I do." Taeyeon says. Rather upset with this whole situation. Although she's weak against pretty girls, right now she's cold, wet, stranded in a pool and blackmailed into answering some seriously personal questions. This is nowhere near nice, but then again, there's half naked Tiffany right next to her, but no, she's really upset right now.

Honestly, Taeyeon didn't know what to feel. This sexy beautiful woman confused the shit out of her.

A sneeze coming out of Taeyeon's mouth stunned the both of them. They shared a minute of awkward eye contact that soon turned into Tiffany going into a fit of apologies and carefully pulling Taeyeon out of the water. More like carrying her because once Taeyeon wasn't floating anymore, she clung to Tiffany's body like a koala hugging a tree. Her arms were around Tiffany's neck while her legs were around her waist.

As Tiffany climbed the ladder out of the pool, she stopped for a second because even though Taeyeon is as light as a feather, the human body is way lighter in water than it is out of it. Not to mention that Taeyeon was still in her not so small hoodie. It's quite the struggle to climb out of the pool, but right now, that's not what Tiffany's mind is busy thinking about.

The two of them stared at each other's eyes. Taeyeon with a pretty much expressionless face, just waiting to be completely out of the pool. While Tiffany is with a quite confused one. It's the first time she ever looked at Taeyeon's face up close like this. She had thought of this before, but visually...the girl is seriously one of the cutest people she had ever met in her life. Big eyes, button nose, and pouty rosy lips. She had two moles on her face. One on her left cheek and another one near her lips on the right side of her chin.

With the combination of that and her wet hair, Taeyeon looked incredibly attractive in Tiffany's eyes right now. Suddenly, Tiffany is all too aware of her bisexuality and the position they're in. It is quite intimate to say the least.

"Tiffany-ssi, please, I will answer whatever question you have, so please let's go inside, I'm really cold." Taeyeon pleads, slightly and unconsciously jutting out her lower lip and eyes close to tears. After all, it was still quite cold and the pool water didn't take long before it chilled up, and now she's only half way out of the water, exposed to air and it's not such a wonderful feeling when your wet in a cold weather.

"Oh, yeah, right." Tiffany says in panic and snaps out of her trans, she continues her way up the ladder.

Finally reaching land, Taeyeon lets go of her housemate. Carefully and slowly, scared of slipping, hitting her head and dying, she makes her way inside the house followed by Tiffany who's already wrapped in her towel that she kept by the pool side. She was going to offer it to the shorter girl but Taeyeon didn't even turn around as she made her way in to the living room, up the stairs and to her own room.

Tiffany didn't hear the sound of the door closing. When she herself reached the second floor, she saw that Taeyeon's door was indeed open. Taeyeon's door was never open. Which means she now trusts her a little bit better. Tiffany thought with a smile and took a step in and took a turn between the shelves to see what Taeyeon was doing.

Inside the room, a pile of soaked clothes were resting on the floor next to their half naked owner. Taeyeon was standing there in front of her thin but long wardrobe with only black panties while in the middle of putting on a white camisole that was a size bigger. Her skin was so pale, Tiffany thought. but it wasn't in a bad way. It complimented Taeyeon's features well.

Sensing that somebody was watching, Taeyeon looked back and wasn't too surprised to see Tiffany. As if she was waiting for her to come, "Aren't you gonna change first before asking that question of yours?" she asks. Thinking that Tiffany was so eager to ask her question that she came to see her without even changing out of her bikini, but in reality, that wasn't the case, but Taeyeon would never know that.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Tiffany says, pretending that she wasn't ogling at her housemate's body since she laid eyes on her flawless skin. It's as she thought, Taeyeon was a bit too thin. The image of Taeyeon's ribs sticking out came back to Tiffany and she remembered why she strongly disliked the girl just a few weeks ago.

But now she knows. She knows why Taeyeon is like this. Why she preferred staying home rather than go out with friends. Why she chose to hide herself rather than step into the spot light that's been craving for her for years. Why she chose to eat cup ramyun and potato chips as full meals everyday. Why she didn't care about her health at all.

When she was young, Taeyeon was abandoned by the crowd who was around her. She didn't have friends to play with. The crowd chose that it would be better if it pretended that Taeyeon didn't exist. She couldn't afford to eat what's considered to be a normal meal. She couldn't afford to care about her health.

At a time when she was supposed to learn how to make friends, the _friends_ pushed her away. When she was supposed to learn about the social skills everybody needs, Taeyeon didn't have any body to be social with. When she was supposed to wait at the table for her mother to prepare dinner, she was busy counting how many cup ramyun they had left and if it would be enough to last them for the rest of the week. When she was supposed to start learning about diets, exercising, fashion and other girly things. Taeyeon was busy studying and reading whatever her school's library offered her because she couldn't afford to care about those girly things.

Eventually things did get better, but, old habits die hard and Taeyeon was the perfect example for that. Today, she has the time and the money to do anything she wants. She could be normal, but unfortunately, nobody has a perfect life and Taeyeon is a bit too screwed up to do any of things people her age are supposed to do. Go out and have fun. That's what most people her age like to do, but to Taeyeon, that sentence to her ears sounded like, go kill yourself.

Taeyeon wasn't normal and she knew it, but after all this time, after all the people she's seen and after all the hurting, Tiffany wasn't sure if Taeyeon even wanted to be normal. She seems content with everything, as if she was normal. One of Tiffany's questions to Taeyeon was, what do you want to do with your future, after all, she could basically do anything she wants. Her answer saddened Tiffany.

 _"Write until I'm unable to. Live off the money I saved up so I won't have to count on anyone. Grow old and...die alone?"_

It amused Tiffany how Taeyeon ended her answer with a question, yet, after only a month of living together, Tiffany knew that Taeyeon was answering seriously, after all, the girl never jokes around. According to what she's seen so far and to what she heard from Jessica and Yuri.

The longer she thought of Taeyeon, the more Tiffany started understanding her.

At first, Tiffany had a hard time linking the little girl in Taeyeon's book to Taeyeon herself, but as she re-read it and re-read it so many times, the image of little Taeyeon started visualizing itself in Tiffany's brain and that's when she started understanding, and for that, the strong dislike in Tiffany's heart started turning into compassion, soon enough, the compassion turned into pure curiosity, but now that she's actually spending time with the girl, Tiffany thinks that the strong dislike had completely turned around.

Strong like, is what she called what she feels for Taeyeon.

With that thought in mind, Tiffany smiled to herself. Her eyes not wondering away from Taeyeon.

"Could you...go change...?" Taeyeon says, cheeks weirdly warming up.

Completely snapped out of her own thoughts, Tiffany looks up and smirks, "Why? Am I too distracting for you, Kim Taeyeon?" she asks with a teasing smile.

"Yes."

Well that wasn't expected. Tiffany is completely thrown off. She thought Taeyeon would get shy and stutter away with awkwardness, but, she didn't. She admitted to her that she's distracted by her body. Tiffany didn't know if she should be flattered or embarrassed. It was a weird mixture of both. She did leave Taeyeon's room and went to her own room to dry off and get dressed nonetheless.

The question she wanted to ask since earlier refreshed in her mind as she passed by a certain door in the house, and when she came back, she was a bit distracted by Taeyeon's cuteness in an oversized royal red sweater and black pants. Tiffany only saw Taeyeon since she met her a handful of times but she only recalls seeing her in big clothes. Why did the girl always wear oversized clothes?

Then again, she was tiny, those are probably extra small and still don't fit her. Tiffany thought. And why is she suddenly all too aware of Taeyeon's looks, she didn't know.

Although she still had a lot of questions in her head she wanted to ask, there was one that's been bugging Tiffany since the first day she stepped foot into this house. The day Taeyeon gave her a tour.

Once you climb the stair case and reach the second floor of the house, with two hallways. One on the right side that leads to a bathroom and the laundry room, and the other straight ahead that contains 4 rooms. Two on either sides. The one closest to the stairs on the right is Taeyeon's fort. The one closest to the stairs on the left is Tiffany's room. The room next to Tiffany's on the left is empty, while the one facing it is, the room next to Taeyeon's is locked. When they passed by it in the tour, Taeyeon brushed it off by saying the room was private.

But now, that she has the opportunity to ask anything she wants, she won't hesitate to do so.

There are a lot of theory's that Tiffany had formulated as to why that room is locked. One of them was that Taeyeon is a criminal and is hiding a bunch of illegal weapons, possibly drugs, possibly hostages, possibly a corpse, and judging from what she's seen of Taeyeon's personality, it's not too far fetched. The girl is too quite and could be any type of person.

Another one was that it was Taeyeon personal sex dungeon, but that's too far fetched. The girl is a 25 years old pure virgin as far as Jessica and Yuri know, and they're like the only human beings she ever interacts with.

After a whole month, the question still stands, "So, Taeyeon...what's in the locked room?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Come on~"

"No."

"Come on~!"

"No."

"Tell me what the hell is in the room!"

"No!"

It's a new chilly morning the next day when Taeyeon jolts awake, yelling at her computer monitor. she finds herself waking up in a very uncomfortable position on her revolving chair, face buried in her arms on the desk. The lights in her room are unusually on so her body ached as she made an attempt to get up, producing a groan out of the shortie.

Upon moving her mouse, the large computer monitor lit up and Taeyeon's eyes burned as she stared at the time, 7:06 AM. It's weird that she's awake at this time of the day like a normal healthy person. She didn't care either way. What's important right now is that she's freezing cold and her pullover sweater is not doing its job properly. She thought of ordering new warm clothes but quickly scrapped that idea from her head, as spring is knocking on their doors.

Get rid of the beige sweater, Taeyeon made a mental note to do that sometime later. She stepped away from her desk and stretched her aching body due to sleeping in a lit up room. Memories of what happened yesterday filling her brain. She woke up late that afternoon. She saw Tiffany swimming in the pool looking sexy as fuck.

Then somehow she found herself floating on the water feeling as relaxed as someone who's high on drugs, but she wouldn't know what that feels like so she just assumed. Last thing she remembers is playing games on her PC while Tiffany was sitting behind her on the bed, pestering her to tell her what's in the room next door which Taeyeon didn't even show to Jessica and Yuri, nonetheless Tiffany.

The idea of being blackmailed didn't sit well with Taeyeon so she just trusted Tiffany to keep her identity a secret from the world. Jessica told her to trust her and the ice princess has always been a good judge of character and if she trusts Tiffany, Taeyeon didn't hesitate to do the same. Although she sees the cheerful American girl in a completely different light now after spending a good few hours with her.

First thing first, being the ambitious and proud person that Tiffany is, Taeyeon got the idea that she didn't like her very much loud and clear since she's pretty much the complete opposite.

Second thing second, Tiffany is incredibly pushy and Taeyeon still doesn't know what to think of it, or how to deal with it for that matter.

Third thing third, Taeyeon realized that at some point last night, she was able to look Tiffany in the eyes and not feel any kind of nervousness. The thing is, she didn't know if it's because she got used to the girl's good looks or because she unconsciously let herself go and Tiffany wasn't fazed whatsoever with her blunt, straight forward personality that she's very insecure about. Hence why she gets nervous around new people.

Perhaps it's because she realized that it wasn't her personality that Tiffany hated, it's just her god damn tiny body.

Head already full of thoughts of her housemate, Taeyeon sighs and walks out of her room and to the bathroom she goes. Just as she turns the door handle, the door gets opened from the other side which causes Taeyeon to lose balance and stumble forward.

Her whole body still aching, Taeyeon takes a few seconds to regain focus of her surroundings.

"Taeyeon? Are you alright?"

Hearing the sweet voice that for some reason reminds her of coca cola, Taeyeon looks up to meet the beautiful eyes of her housemate staring right at her, as if Tiffany could see through her soul. The shorty freezes for a moment, a bit confused.

Why is Tiffany's face so close?

Why is the bathroom so hot?

What the hell is this fluffy softness that's pressing up against her chest?

"Tae?"

Still confused, Taeyeon jolts away once she feels Tiffany's hand caressing her cheek. She takes rapid steps back, stumbling again but quickly regaining balance before she fell, and as the scene in front of her sinks in, her cheeks heat, her tongue felt like as if it's tied, and words seem to be stuck in her throat.

In front of here, standing by the bathroom door is Tiffany, her beautiful housemate, wet hair slightly sticking to the side of her face, wearing nothing but a pretty small white towel around her hot body. Small trickles of water drops were sliding down her milky white smooth looking skin, specifically on her half exposed cleavage. The fog inside the bathroom indicated that she had just taken a hot shower.

"Taeyeon?" Tiffany finally steps out of the bathroom to the hallway, walking closer and closer to Taeyeon, carrying a worried expression on her face, clearly meaning nothing but good intentions.

None of that sank into Taeyeon's mind because all it was registering was neck, shoulders, collar bones, boobs, legs, thighs, Tiffany is smoking hot, god fucking damn it. She couldn't see everything clearly yesterday because Tiffany was under water the whole time.

"S- Stop!" Taeyeon almost yells. She puts her arm up, stretching the whole short length to keep distance between her and her sexy ass housemate.

"I- Is something wrong?" Tiffany asks in pure confusion, sparing Taeyeon's outstretched arm a glance before her eyes focused on the baby face again.

Wrong?

No no.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with any part of Tiffany's body and the fact that Taeyeon was getting a stream of disturbing sexual images of her housemate proved that everything is absolutely perfect. Taeyeon liked everything. Absolutely everything. From head to toe, Tiffany is just perfect and Taeyeon had to take one more step back because she thinks she's about to droll any time soon.

"Taeyeon, what's going on? You're scaring me." Tiffany says nervously, tightening the towel around her chest which blocked the breath taking view from Taeyeon's perverted eyes. It was only then that the shorty was brought back to the real world. The real world where a princess named Tiffany Hwang lived in the opposite room and herself, the frog lived in a fort.

Suddenly, all the social anxiety baggage that Taeyeon is carrying has finally started to kick in again after not even 24 hours of being comfortable with Tiffany and the first thing that came to mind was that she had to put some distance because if this intense tension continues, she doesn't think she could continue being around Tiffany any more.

"You..." Taeyeon starts, voice shaking up, "...stay away from me." and she runs away.

* * *

...

It's when her filled up bladder started bothering her did Taeyeon snap out of her thoughts. After flipping Tiffany off, not literally, she ran back to her room. It took several minutes for her heart to calm down from it's rapidly increasing beat. Yes, she's a sucker for looks, but it was never to this extent. Tiffany...her housemate is a different case.

Tiffany is confident. Very confident, and Taeyeon thinks that because the American girl wears swimsuits and small ass towels in front of her and doesn't think anything of it and that intimidates the hell out of little Taeyeon.

Her friends are beautiful too. There's no questioning that. When complimented, while Jessica gets shy and mutters a sweet thank you with a blush, mainly because it's Taeyeon saying it, Yuri gets cocky and starts laughing like a maniac, her huge ego bursting, making whoever complimented her regret ever saying anything in the first place.

Tiffany...her housemate's reaction yesterday when she was complimented was a mix of both. She said thank you and gave a pleased smile that was shy. Tiffany knew she was beautiful but she didn't slap it in people's face like Yuri nor did she hide it like Jessica. She just lowkey loved herself and that was that.

Taeyeon liked people like that. More than like, she's jealous because she wished she was as confident and as lovely as Tiffany which is a normal thing for women to feel like that about each other, but, there was something about the things Tiffany says and does.

In moments like this when Taeyeon looks at herself in the mirror and feels absolutely nothing does Tiffany's words come back to sting her. She thought she didn't care what people thought of her before, but, she now realizes that she might have been lying to herself for years.

She does care about what people think because it hurt her when Tiffany said that her body bothered her. Taeyeon's been living like this for years and now here came a gorgeous woman who's trying to pull her out of the fort she built around herself. Literally.

People have tried doing that a lot before, but all of them stopped soon after when they saw how much happier Taeyeon is alone rather than being surrounded by a happy crowd. From a young age and for years she was always alone. She was alone for so long that the loneliness turned into comfort.

Now, she could stand in the middle of a big crowd and feel the most lonely she had ever felt her whole life, but then she goes back home and goes inside her fort, in front of her computer and that's where she feels the happiest.

It was just a reckless decision based on general boredom to welcome someone to live with her in her house. Is what Taeyeon thinks. She doesn't regret it since Tiffany is pretty clean, quiet, and keeps to herself...most of the time anyway.

However, when Tiffany doesn't keep to herself and barges in and takes Taeyeon's hand, yes, it wasn't a good situation at first, remembering the morning jog from hell, but...yesterday was nice. Taeyeon has to admit. She enjoyed being in the warm water.

Even with all her clothes still on and Tiffany pestering her with questions that have all the answers in a book she wrote as a child. It was nice. Even when Tiffany pestered her to tell her what's in the other room, Taeyeon was lowkey having fun. As Tiffany whined, and she refused to give an answer, Taeyeon felt like a bully for the first time in her life.

Being around Tiffany confuses Taeyeon. One day it's a living hell, and then the other is just...nice. What kind of person is Tiffany, really? Taeyeon smiled to herself just thinking about how she's actually interested in someone for the first time ever. Although way out of her league, Taeyeon is just happy that the emptiness inside of her is somewhat being filled. With what, she didn't know, but it's a good feeling that she hoped would stick around for a while.

*knock* *knock*

"Taeyeon?"

Taeyeon jolts up a little, startled by the sudden knock and Tiffany's voice on the other side of the door. Her heart beat immediately caught up to the rapid fast pace it was at earlier just by remembering the image of Tiffany's curvy body that's engraved in her head. She turns around and swallows heavily before turning the door knob slowly.

What is it she's so afraid of, she doesn't know, but she does open the door nonetheless, hoping that her housemate is decently dressed so she won't turn to a panicking mess like earlier. She's not like this. Usually, there is no reaction when she see's someone with very little clothing articles on.

What the hell is going on?

As the door slowly opens, Tiffany is revealed, standing outside with crossed arms and a frown on her pretty face, thankfully decently dressed, "What was that?" she asks impatiently as soon as she sees Taeyeon's face.

"Uhm...I...I'm...sorry?" Taeyeon says nervously. Not afraid to make eye contact now that there's no excessive skin revealed.

"Don't apologize and just tell me what the hell is going on." Tiffany says sternly. Clearly upset, "Stay away, you say. Is my company really that much of a pardon to you?"

Taeyeon's eyes widen, "What?"

"Isn't that why you want me to stay away?" Tiffany asks, not bothering to hide her frustration. Although careful not to yell to not intimidate Taeyeon further because the girl is half hiding behind her door.

"No..." Taeyeon simply says.

"Then what is it? Why do you hate me?" It hurts Tiffany to even say that word. Now that she knows that Taeyeon isn't just a lazy NEET who sleeps on a bed of money, but is actually someone who has a special place in her heart, Tiffany would love it if Taeyeon liked her back, just as friends of course.

"I don't hate you." Taeyeon says nonchalantly, with a straight face. She came out from behind her door now that Tiffany doesn't seem as intimidating as earlier.

"Okay. Why do you dislike me so much?" Tiffany rephrased her question, still as agitated.

"I don't dislike you." Taeyeon says, yet again, with a straight face.

Tiffany squints, confused, "Then...how _do_ you feel about me?"

"I like you." Taeyeon says without hesitation. She watched how Tiffany's lips twitched and slowly but surely they turned upside down in a beautiful smile. She bit her bottom lip for a moment before the frown came back. Taeyeon was about to protest but Tiffany beat her in speaking up first.

"If you like me..then why did you tell me to stay away from you?" Tiffany asks in confusion.

"Because you were half naked." Yet again, Taeyeon fires without a single change on her face.

"...ok...ay? What does that have to do with anything?" Tiffany's confusion grew.

"It felt weird."

"How so?"

Taeyeon looks down and rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, "I don't know. It just did."

"Were you repulsed?" Tiffany asks. She knew that some people weren't completely fine looking at naked people, maybe Taeyeon is one of them.

"No. It didn't feel bad." Taeyeon says, more to herself than to Tiffany. She herself is wonder what exactly it was that made her so nervous looking at Tiffany's half naked body.

 _So it felt good?_ \- The smile on Tiffany's face returns as the thought hits her. If that's really true then she doesn't know what to think of Taeyeon anymore.

"Oh, I get it now." Taeyeon looks up, finally realizing what it was she felt when she saw Tiffany's body, only minutes ago. "It turned me on."

Tiffany took a step back in surprise. She had already figured it out but she didn't exept Taeyeon to admit it herself. She giggled awkwardly and put a hand up to cover her mouth. A little embarrassed, and really happy that it wasn't anything negative Taeyeon felt towards her.

Seeing Tiffany laugh like that, a mysterious smile could be seen on Taeyeon's face as she watched her housemate squirm in emabrrassment.

"Taeyeon-ssi~, are you hitting on me?" Tiffany says after the giggles subside.

"Not really." Taeyeon shakes her head calmly.

"Okay." Tiffany's eyes focus on the floor, a smile semilar to Taeyeon's on her face. She made a mental note to buy some slutty clothes to wear around the house once it gets hot. Just for Taeyeon.

Awkward silence takes over them. They both just stand there, looking at the ground. Tiffany in ambarrsment while Taeyeon just really hated teh awkwardness. Thankfully it didn't last long.

"I have the day off." Tiffany says, "...do you...wanna go out or something?"

"Out?"

"Okay, in. We can just stay in." Tiffany corrects herself quickly, remembering how Taeyeon hadn't taken a step out of the house premises for months now.

"Alright..." Taeyeon says, feeling the weird tension between the two of them.

Tiffany's not bad.

Not bad at all.


	7. Chapter 7

Tiffany stood in front of Taeyeon's bedroom door, nervously wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans. Telling herself to not be so nervous. After running errands all morning, she has come back to hang with Taeyeon just as they promised that morning.

After reading up guides on how to approach an introvert and asking advice from Yuri and Jessica, Tiffany had finally come up with a plan to improve her relationship with Taeyeon.

Step 1, Approach slowly.

Step 2, Do not make much eye contact.

Step 3, Be quiet.

Step 4, Avoid sudden movements.

Step 5, Offer food.

It's a bit past noon. Tiffany had bought sandwiches for lunch and she had bought Taeyeon a share. Also some snacks to bribe her with. Hopefully she's hungry and hadn't eaten yet.

Tiffany brings up her sweaty palms into a fist and knocks on the door twice softly, "Taeyeon, I'm coming in." she announces before twisting the door knob and makes her way inside the fort, because there is no way Taeyeon would hear her.

First thing first, she inhales the smell of old books and the soft aroma of air purifier which immediately sends her on a trip to her teenage years. The good part of them, thankfully. She squeezes herself in the small opening between the shelves and a small smile takes over her face when she sees Taeyeon with her big headphones on, concentrated on whatever she's doing.

This time, a mischievous grin takes over. She walks over to stand right behind Taeyeon and peeks over to see what she's doing. Amazon? seems like she's shopping. Tiffany gets a little giddy. She loves shopping, so she watches as Taeyeon moves from the Headphones section, to the video games section, to the food & Grocery section.

So that's how she restocks her ramen...

Although interested in what else Taeyeon shops for, Tiffany had priorities, and her number one priority as of now is get Taeyeon's attention without seeming like a creep even though she's just in denial about it.

As she contemplates on what to do, her eyes sparkle with an idea whens he sees Taeyeon's phone screen light up and she picks it up to answer a text. Before doing anything, she leans over a little to see who in the world Taeyeon talks to.

[Pretty Blonde Bitch - 01:32 PM] Have you eaten anything today yet?

[Taeyeon - 01:32 PM] No.

[Pretty Blonde Bitch - 01:32 PM] I came over last night and put some side dishes in the fridge.

[Taeyeon - 01:32 PM] Thanks.

[Pretty Blonde Bitch - 01:33 PM] You're welcome.

[Pretty Blonde Bitch - 01:33 PM] Don't forget to eat, alright?

[Taeyeon - 01:33 PM] K

Tiffany frowns. Is that Jessica? she stifles a laugh, wondering if the girl knows what Taeyeon has her as on her phone, but then again, she is a pretty blonde bitch. A good pretty blonde bitch. It is affectionate in its own way.

Tiffany has been wondering where the food in the fridge came from. Now she knows. That aside, going along with her plan, she takes out her phone from her back pocket and proceeds to text Taeyeon.

[Tiffany - 01:35 PM] Yah

Taeyeon immediately picks her phone up again and Tiffany is delighted when she sees a small smile from the side of Taeyeon's face she could see without being detected. However, she is a little disappointed when she sees that Taeyeon has her registered in her phone as a mere 'Tiffany Hwang'. Nothing affectionate about that.

[Kim TaeTae - 01:35 PM] Yes?

[Tiffany - 01:35 PM] Look behind you 😜

A few seconds pass. Taeyeon had paused all movements and froze there. Tiffany contemplated whether to text her again or not, but soon enough, she didn't have to as Taeyeon quickly lowered her headphones to her neck and looked back straight at her with a knowing smile.

"Hi." Tiffany says with a sheepish smile.

"Hi..." Taeyeon greets back, rotating in her chair to fully face Tiffany, "How long have you been here?"

"A few minutes." Tiffany shrugs and plops down Taeyeon's bed, "I hope you're hungry, cause I bought food." she shows off the plastic bag to Taeyeon.

"Oh," Taeyeon looks pleasantly surprised, "Thank you. I am hungry." she accepts her share of the food from Tiffany and starts inspecting the sandwiches she received. A kind of excited but small smile engraved on her face.

"Whatchu doin?" Tiffany asks.

"Shopping." Taeyeon states. Not looking up from the sandwich she's currently inspecting the ingredients of, but takes a bite of it only a second later.

"For what?" Tiffany asks.

"Games...and groceries." The second part came a little late and muffled. As if Taeyeon didn't want to say it.

"You grocery shop online?" Tiffany frowns and pretends to be surprised. She's not.

"...yeah...I know it's bad." Taeyeon averts her eyes and starts to cutely sway on her chair right and left. A hand gripping the edge of the chair in the empty space between her legs and the other busy holding the delicious sandwich in front of her mouth as she munches away.

Tiffany fights a huge smile from splitting her face apart and keeps on a neutral expression instead. One, she's glad Taeyeon is eating and she seems to like what she got for her, and two, this girl is just so fucking adorable Tiffany doesn't think she could take it all in at once. "It's not bad, but...why do you hate going out so much?" she takes a chance to ask a question that had been inkling in her mind since...well...since they met.

Silence engulfs the room. Taeyeon keeps strong eye contact between her and Tiffany, as if she's staring into Tiffany's soul. Perhaps trying to figure out her intentions. She opens her mouth but closes it again after a second. She repeats the same action twice before putting her hand behind her neck and rubbing it in an awkward manner.

"What?" Tiffany tilts her head to the side and asks.

"I'm just contemplating whether to tell you this or not. Knowing the kind of person you are." Taeyeon says.

"You don't know what kind of person I am." Tiffany states. She does know what kind of person Taeyeon is, but there is no way the later had figured her out already, considering her lack of common sense.

Taeyeon gives her a small smile, hand going back to their previous position on the edge of the chair, "But I do."

"What kind of person am I, Kim Taeyeon?" Tiffany smirks, challenging Taeyeon. Also interested in what Taeyeon thinks of her.

"Well," Taeyeon starts but gives herself a moment to swallow the food in her mouth before speaking, "You're very forceful, kind of difficult, very demanding most of the time, extremely egotistical, and lowkey secretive." she shoots all at once.

Tiffany frowns, "Why is it all bad things?" she asks.

Taeyeon chuckles, "You're very passionate and diligent, observant, kinda sensitive, also, I could tell that you're truth-loving," she pauses for a moment to swallow, "Hence why you ask so many question to know what's the real deal."

Tiffany stares at Taeyeon in wonder. She just described her as a person in a few words. As if she had known her for months when in reality this is their...3rd time being in each others company long enough to get to know each other.

"How did you figure out all of that?" Tiffany asks in astonishment.

Taeyeon smirks, "I'm smarter than you give me credit for."

 _Who is this person?_ \- Tiffany asks herself. Is this the same girl who was stuttering and blushing furiously every time she looked at her? damn shy people. They're so different once they get comfortable with you.

Suddenly, Tiffany doesn't feel as laid back as before. She almost feels exposed just from being under Taeyeon's gaze. Now it seems like every time Taeyeon looks at her she learns something new and that contradicts with Tiffany's secretive nature, just as Taeyeon figured her out to afternoon, she learned the same lesson she keeps having to learn over and over again since she moved in to this house.

When it comes to Taeyeon, there is more than meets the eyes.

* * *

...

It wasn't the first time that Tiffany was surrounded by books, but there surely is no bedroom like this one in the whole world. Although it's just like a fort, it had an incredibly cozy feeling to it because of that. Also, Taeyeon's room is only quarter the size of Tiffany's own which confused Tiffany, as she thought all the rooms were the same size.

Getting used to the smell of books and air purifier was easy, but it made Tiffany wish getting used to Taeyeon presence was easier. Although she doesn't talk much, Taeyeon's strong presence is unmistakable. Even though she has her back turned to her right now as she clicked away on her mouse, she had her headphones still resting silently around her neck.

Curiosity finally takes the best of Tiffany, "Can I check out your books?" she asks.

"Go ahead. The ones on that shelf are pretty worn out so be careful with them." Without removing her eyes from the monitor, Taeyeon points at the shelf right behind her desk.

"Okay." With a satisfied smile, Tiffany gets off of Taeyeon's bed and starts browsing the books on the shelf right in front of it.

There were a lot of books. _A lot_ of them. The first one that caught her attention was Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. It's a classic in English literature, but what made Tiffany glance at Taeyeon in a curious matter was the fact that the book is about the adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy. Good plot, and...a lot of sex...

Tiffany clears her throat awkwardly as she puts the book back to its place and moves on to the next one that caught her eye. She smiles when she sees Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and many more. All of her childhood favorites.

Seems like the two of them have a lot of common ground when it comes to books.

A soft smile could be seen on Tiffany's face when she saw Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome and As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Although both comedy, one of them was rather darker than the other.

There were sure a lot of classic titles all put in this certain shelf, however, when Tiffany moved to the next shelf, she frowned when she spotted a certain book she had read a long time ago. "Taeyeon?" she calls. When she hears Taeyeon hums for her to continue she turns around to look at her with the book in hand, "Why do you have Lolita?"

Taeyeon quickly looks at her with a straight face, her eyes rest on the book and then back at Tiffany, "That's a Christmas present from Yuri. Though I hadn't read it yet. Is it good?"

Tiffany chuckles awkwardly when she sees Taeyeon look back at her screen nonchalantly, "O- Oh, you hadn't read it. I- I wouldn't know if it's good or not since I didn't read it either...ha ha ha...moving on." Just in case you did not know, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is about Humbert Humbert - a 37-year-old scholar - who has fallen completely and utterly in love with Dolores 'Lolita' Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned 12-year-old daughter.

After putting the book back to its place quickly, Tiffany didn't even continue browsing the shelf and moved on to the next one. She tried to read the titles, but she couldn't. Because they were all in a language unknown to her. "Taeyeon, what language are these?"

"Some are Japanese and others are Chinese." Taeyeon says, not having to look up to know what books Tiffany is talking about.

Tiffany's eyes widen, "You can speak Japanese and Chinese?"

Taeyeon hums, "Just the basics though."

"I...I see." this sparked some interest for Tiffany in just how smart Taeyeon really is, especially after how she described her personality in a few words earlier, "Did you go to college?" she asks.

"Yeah." Taeyeon nods.

"What did you study?"

"I have a bachelor degree in literature."

 _Obviously_ , Tiffany thought to herself. She should have been able to figure it out on her own, but then again, Taeyeon might have chosen something unexpected to study.

"What about you?"

Tiffany's head shot up in surprised. Taeyeon just asked her a question about herself. She's showing interest in her. Tiffany had to swallow a lump in her throat before speaking, hands a little shaky for some reason as Taeyeon looked at her straight in the eyes, "I have diplomas in both mass communications and liberal arts."

"Hm. I see."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Tiffany was about to look back down at the book in her hand but Taeyeon spoke again.

"What do you do for work?"

Tiffany paused everything. Is she seriously asking this question now? Even though they have been living together for a few months already, she still doesn't know what she does? Well, considering how the interview went, she wouldn't know. Unless she googled her and found her social media. Which clearly she didn't.

Tiffany sighs and face palms, "I'm an editor at Vogue."

Taeyeon squints, "What's Vouge?"

Tiffany's eyes widen as she gasps lightly, "Taeyeon! How do you not know what Vogue is?! You're a girl! It's only one of the most popular fashion magazine in the world!" she exclaims.

After one second of silence, Taeyeon nods slowly, "Noted."

"Ohhh my god," Tiffany shakes her head, "You're unbelievable, Tae."

Tiffany throws Taeyeon a last glance. She had her usual straight face on and have already turned back to her monitor. She's different and she doesn't care. Really, is what Tiffany think.

After spending about an hour in silence, Tiffany closes the last book she had picked up, which is on the shelf next to Taeyeon's bed. She glances at Taeyeon to see what she's doing. Playing a game apparently. Judging from the animated characters moving and fighting monsters on the screen.

"What are you playing?" Tiffany asks. Breaking the silence between them and showing a slight interest in gaming just because Taeyeon likes doing it.

"Elsword." Taeyeon answers in monotone. Hearing nothing but silence from Tiffany, she continues, "It's a 2.5D real time action MMORPG."

Tiffany nods slowly, mouth slightly open. The colors are pretty and Taeyeon seems to be having fu-...well, it's not showing in her attitude but Tiffany's sure she's having fun. "Can I try it?" she asks.

The sound of the keyboard buttons being clicked furiously fast stops for about 5 seconds before Taeyeon resumes playing and says, "Sure."


	8. Chapter 8

"Okay, what now?" Tiffany says as soon as she's settled on a stool from the kitchen next to Taeyeon. She had never used a monitor this huge so she doesn't know where exactly to look, or rather, what to focus on.

"First we create a character." Taeyeon says as she gets a hold of the mouse and guides it to the first available character.

"What kind of characters do we have?" Tiffany's eyes sparkle when she sees all the different hair colors. Red, purple, green, black, white, blond, blue, and gray. Might as well make a k-pop group out of them.

"What kind of fighting style do you wanna try?" Taeyeon asks. After a moment of silence, she curiously looks at Tiffany who's looking back at her in confusion.

"Fighting style?" Tiffany smiles sheepishly. She knows absolutely nothing about any of that crap.

Taeyeon sighs, "Look here." she clicks on the first character, a red haired little boy, "This is the knight, he's a swords man." she glances at Tiffany to see if she's paying attention or not, only to see her nodding her head slowly in an understanding matter.

"Go on."

Taeyeon smiles a little, but that went past Tiffany's attention because she was focused on the screen instead, "This is the magician, she can use magic attacks with her wand." she clicks on the purple hair little girl.

"Ohhh, she's cute." She's actually paying attention. Tiffany's actually paying attention.

"This is the ranger, she's a marksman." Taeyeon continues by clicking on the next character.

"Those are some impressive boobs." Tiffany comments in astonishment.

"That's right."

Tiffany looks down and sheepishly smiles to herself, "Taeyeon, you're such a pervert." she says.

"What?" Taeyeon turns to her calmly with a surprised expression.

Tiffany bursts out in giggles, "You have been thinking about her boobs since the moment you saw her, haven't you?"

"Yeah...but why is that so funny?" Taeyeon tilts her head in confusion.

Tiffany's eyes widen. "No reason, really. Just ignore me." she says. She just knows that the coming days will be so much fun with Taeyeon around.

This girl seriously has no common sense at all when it comes to sexual attraction. First she tells her that seeing her in a towel turned her on and now she admits that she thinks of boobs all the time.

"You're kinda weird yourself, aren't you." Taeyeon says with a chuckle.

"You're the weird one!" Tiffany retorts back, offended that someone as weird as Taeyeon would _even dare_ to call someone else weird.

Taeyeon sighs, "I know."

Tiffany casually reaches out and puts her hand on the shorty's shoulder, "It's not in a bad way though. It just makes you even more mysterious." she says.

Taeyeon frowns and looks at Tiffany, "What's so mysterious about me?"

"Are you serious?" Tiffany eyes widen.

Taeyeon leans back and looks right and left in awkward surprise by Tiffany's reaction, "What?"

"Taeyeon, you are literally the most mysterious person I have ever met!" Tiffany says.

Confused by why they're even having this conversation, Taeyeon looks at her housemate in confusion, "Why?'

Tiffany face palms and takes a deep breath before snapping, "Taeyeon, you are so quite, I never have a single idea about what you're thinking and it's even worse now that I know that you're actually pretty smart. For all I know the only people you ever interact with are Jessie and Yul. I get the sense that you're suppressing your emotions, and I wish you would just open up to me. You're so self-suffcient that you literally live in your own world, without caring about what's going on outside You have so little interest in me it's kind of annoying. Notice me already! You don't care what anyone thinks about you, and you definitely don't give a shit about-..."

Awkward silence.

Taeyeon stares at Tiffany, mouth slightly open, eyes concerned, body leaning away from Tiffany as far as possible without actually face palms. What had she just done? she shouldn't have snapped like that.

"Are you...mad at me?" Taeyeon asks quietly.

"No, no. Tae, I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you...a bit frustrated, yes, but not with you. With myself." Seeing that Taeyeon physically relaxed after she said that, Tiffany sighs.

Another moment of silence passes by. There seems to be a lot of those between them.

"Tiffany...I..." Taeyeon starts, but cuts herself off with a sigh, her eyes casted downwards, "I told you when you first moved in...that I'm socially awkward...I don't know how to act around people I'm not familiar with. Yes, I have gotten used to you being around but I can't help it but be like this. I don't speak much only because I really have nothing to say. For that I told you last night, you can ask me literally anything and I will answer it honestly. I'm sorry if that makes it hard for you to figure me out."

Tiffany felt bad. She already knew all these things. She remembers every single thing Taeyeon have told her, but getting frustrated is inevitable. She was about to open her mouth to apologize again and explain herself, but Taeyeon beat her to it.

"Also..." Taeyeon extends her hand to the back of her neck and starts rubbing it awkwardly, "Jessica and Yuri might be the closest to me, but they're not the only people I interact with. Although none of that interaction is something I make effort to keep. Hence why there aren't many people around me. Besides, there is also you now. Right?"

That was unexpected for Tiffany to hear and for that, she smiles, "Yeah." she says.

That really felt good. Knowing that Taeyeon acknowledges her inside of her little circle. Before, she looked at it as if Taeyeon is sitting in the middle of said hypothetical circle. Jessica and Yuri on either side of her. While she was outside, observing them up close. Wishing she was inside of said circle. It feels really good. Tiffany would go as far as say she's flattered.

"I think you're misunderstanding me..." Taeyeon says, eyes focused to the ground, "I'm not self-suffcient like you said. There are a lot of things that I don't understand a thing about, and Jessica and Yuri have always been there to help me with them."

Tiffany frowns, "Like what?"

"Without Jessica bringing me some real food every week, I would have probably gotten sick a long time ago due to malnutrition." Taeyeon states.

Tiffany is immediately reminded by the text exchange that happened between Taeyeon and Jessica earlier that afternoon. So that's what it was all about.

"Also...you're wrong about the fact that I'm not interested in you." Taeyeon smiles and unconsciously starts rocking her chair right and left like earlier, hand playing with edges of her long brown hair, "and I do notice you." she squints, "...just not constantly."

A blush creeps on Tiffany's cheek. So she _is_ interested in her. She smiles sheepishly. It's Taeyeon, so she probably really does notice her, but there really was no way to tell. Until now.

Taeyeon tilts her head in confusion when she sees a playful grin on her housemate's face, "What?" she asks nervously. Wondering what Tiffany is planning.

"So...you're telling me to try harder for you to notice me?" Tiffany asks.

"I didn't say that." Taeyeon was quick to correct her.

"But you do mean that by telling me that you don't notice me constantily."

"No, I don't. I meant exactly what I said. I just have a short attention span that's all."

"Which means that I have to do better to get your full attention on me."

"I'm not asking you to do anything to get my attention."

"But I want it."

Taeyeon frowns, "Why do you want my attention anyway? With those looks, don't people outside give you enough attention already?"

"They do." Tiffany flips her hair arrogantly, full of pride, "but I want yours too."

"Why, though?"

"Cause I like you, obviously."

...

...

"...what?"

Tiffany bursts out laughing and claps her hands when she sees the dumbfounded look on Taeyeon's face. "I like you, you fool."

Taeyeon looks right for a moment before looking back at Tiffany. Her face no longer stoic, but a mix of confusion and embarrassment. "...why?" she asks.

"I don't know." Tiffany shrugs, "It might be your cuteness." she gets closer to Taeyeon and taps her button nose which made Taeyeon flinch cutely, "It might be because you're impressive." she looks at the book shelves around them, reminded of what Taeyeon's other name is and what she does. "It might be your mysteriousness."

"I thought that made you frustrated." Taeyeon says, even more confused than before.

"Well, it does, but it's also incredibly attractive." Tiffany admits, "What can I say. Something about you makes me feel something. A lot of things actually."

Taeyeon presses her lips together and leans back, shying away from Tiffany again. She averts her eyes. Embarrassments clear as day light on her face due to the redness of her usually beautiful pale skin. "Thanks...I guess. I do...um...like you as well." she admits in hesitation.

Delighted by Taeyeon's confession, Tiffany doesn't hold back anymore, "Awwww! you're so adorable Tae!"

Taeyeon finds herself engulfed in hug and then the sides of her face get warm due to Tiffany grabbing her, "T- Tiffany...w- wait...ah...um...I don't...ahm...just...don't...okay.." Taeyeon stutters out loud when she feels aggressive kisses being planted every where on her face excluding lips.

Taeyeon is just a lovely little ball of cuteness and Tiffany just knows it's going to be great.

* * *

...

Yuri had her mouth slightly open. Squinting at the sight of Taeyeon frozen in place at the top of the stairs having not expected to see her there in the first place, her usual stoic face on, full of pink lipstick kiss marks. She wanted to ask the shorty what happened to her, but by the look on her face, she either didn't care or just didn't know how she looked like at the moment.

Probably the later.

So she smiled and decided to pretend that she didn't see anything.

"What?" Taeyeon finally breaks the silence.

"Nothing. I'm retuning your games." she says, holding up to PS4 games that she had previously borrowed from Taeyeon.

"You know where to put them." Taeyeon says nonchalantly and continues her way to the bathroom.

"Okay." Instead of going right ahead to Taeyeon's room, Yuri climbs the rest of the staircase and watches Taeyeon enter the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

A second.

Two seconds.

"What that f*ck?!"

Unable to hold her laugher in, Yuri holds her stomach and clenches her nose, stifling the giggles from coming out loud to prevent the small fight Taeyeon is going to have with her if she ever heard her laughing at her.

After picking herself up, heaving from holding in her laugher, she makes her way to Taeyeon's room. She frowns when she hears the sound of the keyboards buttons being clicked furiously, and when she peeks, to her surprise, Tiffany is there, comfortable on Taeyeon's seat, "Hey." she greets while squeezing herself through the small opening.

Tiffany looks back for only half a second, "Hey." she greets back, her attention not averting from the game

"What are you doing here?" Yuri asks.

"Playing with Taeyeon."

Yuri raises an eyebrow, "Well, aren't you two finally getting along. That's good. Since when?"

"Literally yesterday."

"Heh." Yuri nods in approval. She stands besides Tiffany for a moment and observes her gameplay, "You suck."

"Shut the f*ck up." Tiffany retorts and stomps Yuri's foot, causing the taller to let out a yelp and hiss in pain as she rubs the pain away.

"Jeez. No need to get violent."

"What are you doing here anyway? it's Saturday, don't you have a date?" Tiffany finally turns to Yuri, having finally cleared the dungeon she was in.

"I was just passing by while running errands, thought I would stop to return these." she opens the drawer in the desk where Taeyeon keeps her games and places the two games she borrowed back in their place before taking another two and putting them in her mini backpack. "We fucked all morning, so Sica's resting now."

"Jesus! TMI!" Tiffany kicks Yuri's left shin and grimaces in disgust. She did not need to know that. She heard enough of it already while she was staying with the young energetic couple. Dark times. Very dark times that she did not want to remember.

"I told you no need to get violent!" Yuri exclaims and pushes Tiffany by the chair away from her, but Tiffany doesn't lose balance and rolls right back. "I'm coming over with Sica later. We can hop in the pool by evening if you turn the water heater on now."

"Yeah, good idea. Actually, I just went on a swim with Tae yesterday."

Yuri squints, "You got Taeyeon wet?"

Tiffany smiles and gives her tall friend a suggestive look, "Maybe."

"Ew! Not like that!" It's Yuri's turn to grimace...and then the realization hits her, "Wait, what?"

Tiffany averts her eyes for a moment and clears her throat, "I forced her in, but she didn't mind, really. A rough start, great ending." Tiffany says after calming down.

Yuri's heart suddenly start racing, all kinds of thoughts filling her mind, "...y- you didn't..." she stutters, not believing what she have just heard. She doesn't even want to think about it, "You two didn't...right?"

"Didn't what?" Tiffany smiles innocently, fully knowing what Yuri is implying.

...

Tiffany smirks, "Taeyeon is _really_ cute, you know?"

"OH MY GOD YOU DID!" Yuri yells.

Tiffany bursts out laughing at Yuri's reaction. "We didn't, we didn't. I'm just messing with you. We swam, had a nice chat, and went to sleep sepretly."

Clearly relived by what she had just heard, Yuri lets out a deep sigh. Hand on her raging heart. That was a huge surprise. Well, not really, since she and Jessica were hoping something like this would happen sooner or later between their two friends, they didn't mention that to either of them of course.

A second of eye contact later, Yuri asks, "So...you like her now? Like...like like her."

Tiffany smiles, blushes, averts her eyes, and starts to sway on the chair right and left in embarrassment, unconsciously mimicking Taeyeon's habit, "Give it a little more time...and I'm sure there would be something more."

Yuri opens her mouth but then closes it again, surprised by Tiffany's confession. "I knew you would like this after knowing the truth. Did you confront her about...you know..."

Tiffany nods quickly, "Yeah, yesterday. She was pretty cool about it."

Yuri smiles a little, "Good...good...keep getting closer..."

Tiffany giggles, "You sound like an evil dictator."

"Maybe I am." Yuri smirks.

"Ugh, yeah, right. I would love to hear you tell Jessie that. I'm sure we're all gonna have a good laugh."

"Why you gotta be so rude?" Yuri fake cries.

"Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude?" Tiffany sings instead of apologizing.

"Oh wow. You know you sometimes can be a bigger bitch than Sica."

"Oh thank you. I'm gonna tell her that."

"Please don't." Yuri shakes her head in fear. Her girlfriend is very scary when she's upset.

Before Tiffany had the chance to retort back, Taeyeon quietly walks in the room, pink marks all over her face due to attempting to wash off the lipstick kisses that covered her face all over. Her eyes looking glossed over as if she's about to cry.

"It's not getting off." The shorty says, "Why isn't it getting off?"

"Oh Tae, I'm so sorry. That's water proof." Tiffany immediately gets her gorgeous ass off the chair and engulfs Taeyeon in a hug that Taeyeon didn't react to. "I'm going to get you some remover, okay?"

"Kay." Taeyeon slowly nods, her eyes fixated on the ground.

Once Tiffany walks out of the room, Taeyeon realizes that Yuri is still there and is staring at her with an expression she couldn't make out exactly what it meant.

"You like her?" Yuri asks.

"Tiffany?" Taeyeon frowns.

"Yeah."

"Yeah," The small shorty smiles a little, "I like her."

Yuri shakes her head slowly, "Do you like her as in how me and Sica like each other?"

Taeyeon's eyes widen for a moment before going back to normal, there is a second of silence that went by quickly between the two before Taeyeon opened her mouth. "I don't know what that feels like, though."

"Right..." Yuri nods slowly.

Seems like things are a bit more complicated on Taeyeon's side.


	9. Chapter 9

"When did this happen?"

"Literally yesterday."

It's 6 PM. Yuri and Jessica have come over to enjoy their day off with their friends in Taeyeon's pool. However, what Yuri had awaited all afternoon to see was Jessica's reaction to the scene they're currently witnessing in Taeyeon's room. Sitting side by side, is Tiffany on the right, while Taeyeon is on the left, playing a game versus each other on the PC.

The oversexed couple peeked at their friends' moment. How unexpected to see Tiffany playing a game. With Taeyeon whom she disliked since the very beginning nonetheless. It's great to see them getting along but it's still a bit weird since it's the first time it's being witnessed.

"Hey." Jessica was the first to break their camouflage behind the shelf and walk in on Taeyeon's and Tiffany's gaming session.

Taeyeon was the first to turn around with a certain smile on her face, "Hi, Sica."

"Hey." Tiffany didn't even bother turning around which ticked Jessica off, "Ow! did you just pinch me?!" that got her to turn around and glare at the blonde while rubbing her neck.

"Yes. Look at me when I talk."

"Oh my god." Tiffany sighs dramatically. Frustrated with her friend's ridiculousness. "Look what you've done! You made me lose!" she threw her hands in the air, upset about losing to Taeyeon for possibly the 100th time that day.

"No, I didn't. You lost cause you're bad." Jessica said with a straight face. It made Tiffany wonder if she and Taeyeon were related in some way. "Get your clothes off. We're hopping into the pool."

True to her word, ten minutes later, Tiffany found herself in the dark backyard. Shivering in her swimsuit, but the steam coming up from the pool water made up for it. One by one, the lights inside the pool and the flashes on the house lit up the whole place. Yuri was the first to do an awesome flip into the water because she's just that awesome. On the other side, Jessica climbed down the metal ladder without making much of a hustle.

Before going in, Tiffany's eyes roamed around the lit backyard, looking for a certain petite girl and smiled when she spotted her. Sitting at the edge of the pool is Taeyeon in short shorts, an oversized white t-shit, and her legs dipped in the warm water.

Quickly also jumping in the warm water, Tiffany subtly swam towards Taeyeon, nose deep underwater, approaching the girl as if she was a shark. She was planning to pull the girl into the pool by her legs, surprising her, but she decided not to last second. She didn't want to scare the living shit out of her. She was too fragile as it is.

"Tae, won't you hop in?" Tiffany asked once she was close enough to touch Taeyeon's knees with her boobs.

Taeyeon opened her mouth, closed it, then repeated the action again for about three times. In the end, she decided to keep it close and look down. Eyes fortunately for her on Tiffany's fine chest region.

"What is it?" Tiffany leaned her head to the side, trying to get a good look at her housemate's eyes that were covered with her fringe. She didn't have to try for long because Taeyeon raised her head only a second later.

"Will you do me like yesterday?"

Hearing that, both Jessica and Yuri who were chatting among one another turned to look at their two friends.

" _Do_ you?" Yuri questioned the shorty's phrasing.

"What _did_ you do to her yesterday?" Jessica asked her American friend with a squint, suspicious of what she had done to her short friend. Although not scared for her since she knows Tiffany would never ever do something bad to anyone intentionally.

Tiffany's giggle echoed in the darkness of the night, instead of an answer, a loud splash was heard as Taeyeon made contact with the water. Her yelping and holding on to Tiffany tightly was a sight neither Jessica nor Yuri would have ever expected to see tonight.

"You could have warned me." Taeyeon said, a sad expression on her face.

"Hehehe, sorry. You're just so cute when you get surprised." Tiffany said.

"Jeez."

Both Yuri and Jessica looked at each other in shock. Then back at Tiffany and Taeyeon who were embracing each other tightly, faces so close, eye contact so intimate it even made _them_ uncomfortable. _Them_. _YulSic_. _Queens_ of shameless PDA.

"We're losing to them and they're not even a couple. Get over here, Babe." Yuri swam towards Jessica and wrapped an arm around her waist while her other hand got tangled between her beautiful luscious honey blonde locks.

"Even though we went at all night last night and all morning today. Why so jealous?" Jessica gave her girlfriend a teasing smile, leaning away just a tad bit to leave Yuri wanting her even more.

"Because..." Yuri pouts, "They...they're...kind of cuter than us."

"Don't be silly. There is no couple in the entire world who's cuter than us."

Yuri smiles as she looks at her girlfriend lovingly. They give each other a quick peck on the lips before their noses meet in an adorable Eskimo kiss.

On the other side of the pool, Taeyeon and Tiffany stare at their friends' actions. Between the two, they're just being cute to one another. To onlookers from afar, it looks erotic as fuck. Because one, they're wearing bikinis. Two, their boobs are pressing against each other as they hug. Three, they just started making out, and the noises they're making is really making their friends pretty uncomfortable.

"Don't look TaeTae. I have holy water in my room, cleanse your eyes with it later." Tiffany says as she covers Taeyeon's eyes with her hand.

A bit confused, Taeyeon removes Tiffany's hand and looks at her with a slight unintentional pout, "I'm an adult. I can look at them kissing if I want."

 _Well, hello there_ \- Tiffany says to herself, having been just introduced to another side of Taeyeon. She fake gasps, "Taeyeon, you pervert. I didn't know you were like this."

"I'm not a pervert." Taeyeon says, face still pouty.

" _Yes you are._ " Jessica and Yuri say in unison. Having caught up to the conversation.

"Am not." Taeyeon persists.

" _Are too._ " This time, all three friends argue against the shorty.

It's already a lost match to fight 1vs3, so all Taeyeon could do was sigh and give up.

Kim Taeyeon is a pervert.

* * *

...

Taeyeon lied there, floating above water. She couldn't hear what her friends were talking about because she's only ears deep in the water. It's going to be a hassle to try and get all the liquid out later, but in Taeyeon's opinion, it's worth it.

The sky is so dark. Due to the excessive light pollution in the city, there wasn't a single star to be seen in the night sky. Although the moon is out on it's full. Taeyeon would like to try and get in the pool midnight without turning any of the lights on, just to see if the moon light shining on her house is enough to serve as lighting. How beautiful that would be.

As the water carried her light body, Taeyeon's eyes were slowly closing as she got very sleepy all of a sudden. With all noises muffled and the serenity of being carried by water, it was a surprise, really.

Would it be okay to just fall asleep in the water like this? Won't she drown? But Tiffany is right next to her, Taeyeon could see her in her peripheral vision swimming just near by at her right. Although she couldn't see Yuri and Jessica, she could hear their muffled voices conversing along with Tiffany. She wanted to sleep so bad but she knew if she did actually fall asleep right here, right now, it's going to be dangerous and she doesn't want to cause trouble to her friends.

Oh sweet sweet sleep. How much Taeyeon is craving for you right now. She's gotten so sleepy to the point she started fighting with her eyes to keep them open. She wanted to call out for one of her friends to help her out because there's no way she's getting out of this huge ass pool by herself, but then again, she felt so relaxed when she opened her mouth to say something, she didn't feel like using her vocal cords.

A few minutes went by and it's getting harder and harder for her to stay conscious. Finally, her eyes win the battle and shut down completely. Slowly but surely, sleep starts taking over her whole body. At this point, the shorty wasn't even aware that she's already in the early stages of sleep. To her, she's still awake and staring at the night sky, unaware that it's just a dream and that if her friends do not notice her soon enough, the night sky might be the last thing she saw.

But there is no way that would actually happen, because after all, even if Yuri and Jessica get lost in their own conversation, there's still someone who can't take their eyes off the shorty. In reality, Tiffany was aware of Taeyeon's state and had long pulled Taeyeon to the edge of the pool.

"Taeyeon." she calls out softly just as Taeyeon closes her eyes, "Taeyeon," she calls again, giggling while saying her name, "You can't sleep here. You'll drown."

Half asleep Taeyeon opens her eyes. She's in a drunken like state from sleeping way too little and staying up all night for several nights in a row. It's all hitting her in one go now that she's finally completely relaxed thanks to the warm water, the dark night sky, and the muffled voices of the people she trusts the most in the background. She needed this. She had needed this for a long time.

In the state of being half asleep, every time Taeyeon was conscious of herself, she was in a different state. First, she was helped out of the pool. Next thing she remembers was walking up the stairs, someone was holding her hand but she was trying her best not to miss a step and fall to gather enough energy to look up and see who it was.

Being naked in front of another girl never really bothered her so it really wasn't a problem when she heard one of her friend's voices telling her to "Strip." without thinking twice, she took everything off, shaking a little as a result of having wet clothes on for a bit too long. She wore the soft warm clothes that were handed to her immediately.

Next thing she knew, she was sitting on her bed, eyes closed, already falling asleep, but she could definitely tell that she had a towel on her head and someone was drying her hair for her. The comforting feeling of her head finally hitting her own pillow after being sleepy for a bit too long was like haven to her, and it got even better when she was covered with her comforter.

What heavenly bliss is this?

Even though she was already slipping into complete unconsciousness, the thankfulness to whichever of her friends who made things so easy for her to just go to sleep overwhelmed Taeyeon. She smiled when she felt a soft hand caressing her cheek. "Thank you."

It was just a mutter but it was loud enough for Tiffany to hear. Although she hoped Taeyeon would have stayed up a little longer to have dinner with them, she could easily say that she had gotten the chance to spend some quality time with the girl and actually get to know her.

Spending time with Taeyeon brings back so many memories. Good ones and bad ones. Being in Taeyeon's room today and exploring her library reminded Tiffany of her freshmen year of high school. Having been rejected by the many many cliques because she's foreign might have hurt Tiffany, but hiding in the library and dawning herself completely in books was the best coping mechanism she could think of at that time.

It must be the same for Taeyeon. She must be living in crippling loneliness every single day. All alone in such a big house. Out of sight, out of mind. She chose books and games as her escape from the cruel reality that is being alone.

While she got lost in books easily, the inkling thought that she could be out in the mall with some friends stayed at the back of her head the whole time. It was only in sophomore year did Tiffany's beauty truly bloom, and only then did people started noticing her. Boys started hitting on her and girls split into two sides.

The ones who hated her due to jealousy, they were nice to her face and bad mouthed her behind her back. Then the ones who admired her from afar. Although jealous because they wished they were as pretty and as popular, they didn't dare to approach because to them, she's the "popular girl" perhaps it was intimidation.

Excluding a couple of genuine people whom she's on friendly terms with until this day, Tiffany was still alone, and that continued on until she got her first boyfriend. Then her second. Then her third. And now she's alone again.

Hence why she understands. She now fully realizes why Taeyeon is like this. She's been so alone for such a long time that she fell in love with it. Loneliness has become her safe place. Where she doesn't have to deal with people who judge her. Who act nice to her than stab her back. Who loath her with jealousy. Who want to use her. She chose isolating herself because it was safe that way, and now Tiffany understands.

They're really not that different.

* * *

...

Jolting up with a hard sneeze that feels like it shook your brains out is never a good way to wake up, but that's how Taeyeon's sleep was interrupted that morning. An unusual heaviness to her foot steps slowed her down even more than her usual slow-paced-no-need-to-hurry style of...well, doing everything, really.

As she walks in the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror. She frowns at the appearance of her crusty looking lips. God only knows when the last time she dehydrated her system was. After freshening up, the shorty dragged her self down the stairs to the kitchen for a drink of water that certainly helped her to feel better, but still, the dizziness didn't subside one bit.

The brown onyx eyes roamed around the house. It's empty. As usual. The clock indicated that it's 9:15 AM. Thinking of last night, Taeyeon smiled to herself. She had fun with her best friends, and new friend, Tiffany. She must be at work right now.

Upon thinking of yesterday, Taeyeon's eyes settled at the furthest wall from her. A glass wall with a door that leads to the backyard. When she walked out there, she saw that the pool water was spilling here and there due to the strong wind. She looked up, and a sudden disappointment immediately filled her heart when she saw the morning sky completely white with the sun nowhere in sight.

Too bad they won't be able to swim tonight. Not like Taeyeon was expecting Tiffany to ask her to swim with her again or anything. She's sure the American girl is busy and has better things to do, and besides, the shorty can't just hop in the water on her own. She'll drown.

With the thought of drowning invading her brain again, Taeyeon's breath and heart rate quickens. She takes a step back. Then two steps. Then back inside the house she was.

As a result of going out in the cold with light clothes on, Taeyeon hugs her small shivering body and drags her feet upstairs, back to her room. To her safe space. She gets in bed, under her comforter, and snuggles her pillow. Just like that, she feels content. Although she wasn't planning to, she closed her eyes and went right back to sleep.

One of the perks of having no commitments whatsoever.

For days on end, Taeyeon doesn't have dreams. They're usually random, empty, ones she doesn't remember the moment she opens her eyes. She used to have nightmares about specific scenes she have witnessed and nobody should ever have to go through, but not anymore. They stopped years ago, in college, when she got too distracted to think of how miserable her childhood was.

Now, she could just sleep in bliss. With empty dreams that affected her in no way whatsoever. She wishes she could have good dreams. Visions. Memories, good ones of course. It's just nothing. Although, it is a bit lonely. But nothing Kim Taeyeon can't handle. She's been lonely all her life after all.

Since she closed her eyes again, Taeyeon fell into and out of consciousness every 30 minutes or so for hours. Even though she's sure she had slept for over 12 hours last night, tiredness seems to be only increasing. She's only now noticing that she doesn't feel as normal physically wise as always. Something's wrong.

Moving have become a nuisance. There is a certain itchiness in her throat. Now that she's thinking about it, the water tasted different once it touched her throat. Her bones, joints, and head are aching. Even though she could tell that her body is warm under the covers, she's shivering due to how cold she feels.

It's exactly how she feels when she's sick, Taeyeon realizes. But she's not sneezing that many times nor coughing yet. At the end, Taeyeon being Taeyeon, instead of getting up and taking a pill. She covers herself completely under the covers and grabs her phone to play games. Her hands are literally shaking as she matches three apples on Gardenscapes. She played until half of her lives were empty and found herself fighting with her eyes to stay open.

So she fell asleep again. Phone in hand.

It was hours later when she opened her eyes again. The first thing she saw was her phone in her hand. She clicked the home button, causing the screen to light up. It's 3:20. The itchiness in her throat started bothering her. Overwhelming her with the desire to just cough and get it over with, but it wasn't to that point yet.

As she sat up, the covers slipped off of her. Thankfully, it didn't feel as cold as before. Despite her increasing body heat, she wasn't sweaty. Getting up and standing on her feet was too much effort, so Taeyeon laid back down on her uncomfortably hot pillow, but she didn't stay there for long. Her lips were so dry they're almost cracking. Her bladder is filled to the brim she's clenching her thighs together. Her stomach have probably started consuming itself out of starvation.

Although she's too tired to get up, Taeyeon have mustered up the energy to do so because she was about to have an accident and let it all out on her sheets. It was slow and heavy steps that the shorty took. Her hand tracing the wall as she walked to the bathroom as she was afraid to lose balance.

After relieving herself and washing her hands, Taeyeon decided to eat something quick and take a pill because illness is a bitch and she doesn't want it to get even worse than it already is. She walked down the stairs slowly holding on to the railing as tight as possible as to not fall down and hurt herself. It was yet another relief when her feet touching the cold floor. She cursed when she realized that she have forgotten her slippers in her room.

Upon reaching the kitchen, all that's left is her usual daily routine. She poured some water in the electric kettle, took out a cup of ramen out of a cupboard, opened the packets and put them on the hard noodles, and sat on a stool to wait for the water to finish boiling. Feeling a bit too tried to keep her head up, Taeyeon buried her face in her arms on the counter, waiting to hear the beep that indicated that the kettle has finished its job.

Other than the sound of the kettle, the house was completely silent. Considering that she fell asleep with her friends around her last night, Taeyeon is currently filled with loneliness. It's the same loneliness that overwhelms you when you're alone all day then a friend comes over to hang out, but then they have to say good bye and you wish you could ask them to stay longer because the feeling of being left alone is a little bitch.

It might have been delayed a little bit for Taeyeon since she didn't realize that she had fallen asleep on her friends last night until she woke up that morning, but now that she's doing her daily routine of eating cup ramen alone in her kitchen. It's hitting her hard that she's actually really alone and her friends are not around anymore.

Unlike her, they're busy. Unlike her, they live together. Unlike her, they have each other. Unlike her, they're two together. They're a couple, it's only natural for them to want to be together all the time. It's only at a time like this does Taeyeon wish she had someone she loves the same way Jessica and Yuri love each other.

In reality, she doesn't, and she doesn't think there will ever be someone who would ever come to love someone like her. She might be lonely at the moment, but in a few hours, perhaps days, she will go back to her normal self where she _wants_ to be alone. Unconsciously repeating the word lonely over and over again in her head, Taeyeon didn't realize that she was making herself feel even worse.


	10. Chapter 10

_You're alone..._

 _You'll always be alone..._

 _No one cares about you..._

 _No one loves you..._

 _No body will ever love you..._

"Taeyeon"

Waking up with a gasp, Taeyeon lifts her head up from her arms and her eyes meet Tiffany's. The girl was giving her a concerned look. She looked very pretty in her work clothes, and with hair and make up done.

"Sorry I scared you, but why are you sleeping here?" Tiffany asks, finally smiling.

Puzzled by what the girl said, Taeyeon looked around in confusion. She's still sitting on the stool in front of the kitchen counter. She was waiting for the water to boil to make Ramen, but apparently she drifted back to sleep while waiting. The search for her phone wasn't long. When she finally finds it, she is surprised to find out that it's already 5:30 PM.

Meanwhile, Tiffany sets some plastic bags on the counter, "Don't eat that." she snatched the raw cup of ramen and put it away from Taeyeon's reach. "I'm cooking dinner."

Baffled by Tiffany's sudden announcement, the surprise on Taeyeon's face, is of course notvisible, "You can cook?"

Tiffany giggles, "So-So" she says as she takes her jacket off, "I'm gonna go change. Can you take the stuff out of the bag, please?"

Seeing the smile on Tiffany's face and the way her jacket just slipped down her shoulders slowly and sexily, Taeyeon nodded and watched her housemate walk away. It's fun to watch her walk away. She has such a nice ass.

Once Tiffany was out of sight, Taeyeon shook her head. Not so secretly objectifying her housemate is not a good idea, but, the girl is so pretty she just can't help it. With a sigh, Taeyeon promised herself to try not think of Tiffany in that way. One, because she's sure the girl will find it disgusting, and two, it's never ever going to go anywhere. With that thought in mind, Taeyeon slowly but surely starts taking the things Tiffany bought out of the plastic bags.

Rice. Bread. Beans. Oatmeal. Ground pork. Beef. Chicken. Tofu. Onions. Scallions. Garlic. All three colors of bell peppers. Almonds. Lemon. Tomatoes. Strawberries. Cherries. Blue berries. Bananas. Milk. Orange juice. Chocolate. Honey. Yogurt. Ice Cream. Cheese. Grape Jelly. Peanut Butter(the enemy) Maple Syrup. Canola oil. Sesame oil. Red chili pepper flakes and paste. Soy sauce. Soybean paste. Starch. Sugar. Salt. Different kinds of spices. Shampoo. Conditioner. Liquid body soup.

 _How much did all of this cost?_ \- Taeyeon thought to herself. A frown is visible on her face as she tries to count how much money Tiffany spent on groceries. Considering that Taeyeon's definition of groceries is ramen, chips, and candy. This is a lot and just counting is multiplying the pain her headache is giving her.

"Do you have a rice cooker?"

"Huh?" Taeyeon looks up in surprise. Tiffany just came out of nowhere. She didn't even hear her coming down the stairs. "Uhh...I think it's in that cabinet. I don't know if it's still working though. I never used it."

"You never used it?" Tiffany pauses and looks at her housemate in surprise, "When did you buy it?"

Taeyeon nods, "Three years ago."

"Jesus Christ, Tae." Tiffany messages her temple. Just thinking about Taeyeon's food consumption is giving her a headache, "I swear I'm going to fatten you up." she opens said cabinet and finds the unused rice cooker. It was surprisingly clean. Must be the poor Ahjumma who's maintaining it. "When does the Ahjumma who cleans up come?"

"Friday morning."

"I see."

Seconds later, Taeyeon's eyes were focused on Tiffany as she put an apron on and started pulling her luscious shiny soft looking brown hair up in a ponytail. Hair tie secured between her perfect set of pearly white teeth. Damn. She's so hot. Taeyeon is confused when she sees Tiffany looking at her with a knowing devilish smile on her face, "What?" she asks.

"You just said that out loud."

"...said what?"

" _She's so hot_. You said." Tiffany giggles.

Realizing that she had just embarrassed herself, Taeyeon clears her throat, "Did I?...uhm...I'm sorry."

Tiffany leans on the counter with a smirk on her beautiful face, "I don't mind, since it's you."

It was only a few seconds, but, to Taeyeon, the longer she stared at Tiffany, the harder it was to breath. Those eyes. That smile. That _face_. Such a looker, this girl is.

"Do you like Mapo tofu?" Tiffany asks, turning around to wash her hands and the veggies. Not really realizing the trouble she had just caused for Taeyeon.

"Huh? yeah. I like it." Taeyeon takes a deep breath, to make up for the air Tiffany stole from her.

"Good! Just sit there and wait, okay? It won't take long."

Seeing the never ending smile on Tiffany's face, Taeyeon looks down and smiles just slightly. More to herself rather than to Tiffany. It feels weird. All of this feels weird. Having Tiffany around feels weird. The way she talks to her and looks at her and the way she acts around her. It's all weird. There is something weird about the thought of Tiffany as a person that makes Taeyeon feel weird.

Every time Tiffany is around, Taeyeon can't help it but feel a little bit shy. Not the same timidness, nerve wrecking anxiousness she feels when she goes outside. It's different. This is Taeyeon's house. Where she could just be herself, but at the same time, she really wants Tiffany to like her.

Why? What's so special about Tiffany? There are a lot of good looking people in this world, but somehow Tiffany is special and Taeyeon just can't figure out why.

"How was your day?" Tiffany asks as she cuts the vegetables on the cutting board.

Taeyeon hesitates, "It was okay." she says. Considering that she spent it sleeping.

"Yeah? What did you do?"

"...slept." she says, "What about you?" then quickly steers the conversation away from her.

"You're interested in how my day went?" Tiffany looks up and gives Taeyeon a teasing look.

"Since you know about my day..."

"Noted." Tiffany chuckles, "I had a great day actually. Work went as usual. Had lunch with some friends. Finally went grocery shopping. No more cup ramen for you by the way. I'm cooking from now on."

"But...aren't ingredients expensive?" Taeyeon asks innocently.

"One, it may be more expensive than ramen cups, but it is less pricey and healthier than take out food, and two, I believe money is no problem for neither of us." Tiffany sighs. "Besides, you're not the only one who makes a lot of money you know?"

"I...that's...not what I meant." Taeyeon looks down.

Tiffany sighs, "Look Tae...I know that you're used to it, but...you're okay now. You can afford to eat normal food."

Taeyeon swallows a lump that made her uncomfortable. She knew exactly what Tiffany was referring to.

"You're okay, Tae."

"I know." Taeyeon says with a sigh. Eyes focusing on the glass walls behind Tiffany.

"Then why are you eating like this?"

"Habits are hard to break...I guess."

"Well, I'm breaking them for you, because cup ramen and junk food for every single meal is unacceptble."

Hearing that, Taeyeon couldn't help it but chuckle. A flash back to the day Tiffany made her run in the backyard came to mind. Back then she was annoyed with what her housemate have said, but now, although she's using gentler words, the context is the same. "Are you saying that because I'm annoying you with my bad habits?"

"That's right!" Tiffany slams her hand on the counter startling Taeyeon, "But I also care about you now and I'm volunteering to do it so no complains!"

"...you...care about me?" Taeyeon asks, surprise and confusing dripping from her voice.

"Duh?" Tiffany frowns. Sometimes Taeyeon's lack of common sense gets on her nerves.

Just sometimes though.

* * *

...

Taeyeon's eyes were glassy. She had her head resting between her arms on the counter as she watched Tiffany from behind, cooking. The sight of the younger girl's back and the sound of cooking became background noise to Taeyeon's empty thoughts.

For the first time in forever, Taeyeon felt serene and at ease. Just sitting there and watching Tiffany cook from behind. Yet again, she was fighting with her eyes to stay open. The behind burned a little due to her abnormally high body heat at the moment, but she didn't want to close them. Not yet.

Because for some reason, she thinks that when she closes her eyes, Tiffany won't be there when she opens them again, and she doesn't want that. Tiffany's presence is pretty likable to her right now.

The younger girl is pretty quiet when she's focused, Taeyeon have noticed. Although she glanced back at her every now and then, Tiffany had only conversed with her for 5 minutes of the 30 minutes she's been cooking for. Taeyeon couldn't help it but question Tiffany's intentions, but the smell of good fresh food added to the sickness clouded her mind.

Even though she doesn't usually feel like eating, ever. Nonetheless now that she's sick, the growls of her stomach defeated any argument Taeyeon tried to make with herself. Which didn't take long at all because Tiffany's voice interrupted her line of confusing scattered sickness clouded thoughts.

"Food's ready." Tiffany announces. Placing a plate of Mapo Tofu in front of Taeyeon with clean utensils on the side.

With her glassed over eyes, Taeyeon watched Tiffany place dish after dish on the table. There was a bowl of freshly made rice. Side dishes Jessica brings her every week, and then the main dish. Freshly made by none other than the new star chef Tiffany Hwang.

"Give it a taste." Tiffany brings a stool over to the other side of the counter so she could sit in front of Taeyeon.

Although a bit too tired to be even sitting up, Taeyeon does so. She gets a hold of her spoon and scoops the rice first. Damn, it's been a while since she had normal fresh white rice. This is gold right here. Noticing the anticipation on Tiffany's face, Taeyeon scoops a spoonful of Mapo Tofu, blowing on it a little before putting it in her mouth.

Silence engulfs the house. Taeyeon had swallowed and already scooped another spoonful to blow on, and just like the first bite, she chews for not too long, swallows, and moves to scoop another spoonful.

"Well? How is it?!"

Taeyeon jolts a little due to Tiffany's exclamation. She looks at the younger girl in surprise, only to find that the younger girl is stiffing a giggle.

"I'm sorry, Tae. I didn't mean to yell. What does it taste like?" Tiffany was quick to apologize. It was a mistake to yell at someone like Taeyeon but the shorty didn't seem to think too much of it.

"Like...mapo tofu?" Taeyeon says in confusion.

Tiffany face palms, "Not that, idiot. I meant does it taste good or nah?"

"Oh, it's very good." Taeyeon nods enthusiastically with a smile. She gives Tiffany an okay sign with her hand and resumes eating.

On the other hand, all Tiffany could do was chuckle and sigh in relief before she starts digging in her own plate.

Other than the fact that they were not so secretly glancing at each other, the two of them ate in silence. Only the sound of the utensils bumping into the bowls and plates could be heard every now and then, until they finished everything. The dishes were almost squeaky cleaned up.

"Thanks for the meal. It was very delicious." Taeyeon nods, almost bowing in a respectful manner.

"No problem." Tiffany smiles and watches as Taeyeon gets up, starts gathering the dirty dishes and brings them over to the sink to rinse before putting them in the dishwasher. Seeing that, Tiffany shrugs and takes out a rug from one of the cabinets to clean up the counter.

Quiet minutes passed. They were both done with what they were doing. Tiffany was just on her phone but she secretly watched what Taeyeon was doing out of curiosity. The shorter had opened a cabinet, took out the first aid kit which made Tiffany arch a confused eyebrow, then popped out a pill.

"What's that?" Tiffany asks, squinting in slight fear. All thoughts of illegal drug use went through her mind.

"An Aspirin." Taeyeon says before putting the little pill in her mouth and swallowing it with water.

"Oh...what are you taking it for?"

"Headache...been feverish since I woke up this morning." Taeyeon says, grimacing at the taste of the pill she got a hint of in that split second it stayed on her tongue. "I'm going to sleep." she announces.

"...kay." Tiffany says after a pause, not sure of what to say or what to do or if she should even interfere. "Will you be okay?" she asks.

"Yup." Taeyeon's answer was simple.

After all, she's always dealt with any kind of sickness she experienced alone since she was a kid. Spare for the time Yuri and Jessica lived with her during college. Although it was only normal for them to worry about their friend, Taeyeon found them only getting in her way and bluntly pushed them away.

"Good night." Taeyeon was the first one of the two to turn her back to the other and walk up the stairs.

"Good night." Tiffany automatically says back. Although uncertainty masked her voice.

After brushing her teeth, Taeyeon went straight to bed. She was very very pleased with how the night went. It was as if it was natural for Tiffany and her to do these things. The silence between them wasn't awkward at all. It was comforting. Tiffany's different. When she's with Yuri or Jessica or god forbids both together at the same time, it's always very noisy.

Yuri liked to argue with her over trivial things, talk either about games, herself or Jessica. While Jessica liked to just sit there and watch her play games, she also liked to talk while doing so. It's either about TV shows, her fights with Yuri, or sometimes asked her about every single thing that's going on in her game which proofed to be very annoying over time.

Tiffany, however. She's quiet which Taeyeon couldn't yet tell if she's really that calm or if she's just being considerate of her. Perhaps waiting for them to warm up to each other more to talk over food, but, Taeyeon certainly didn't mind silent meals like this one tonight.

Taeyeon almost feels like putting effort into actually trying to get to know her housemate.

Almost.

Not quite there yet.

* * *

...

Taeyeon didn't expect to get a good night sleep, but what she didn't expect was waking up 5 hours later at 11:30 PM. She can't tell if this is pure bad luck or if her body is too fucked up to shut down at the moment, but she knew that the fact that her throat felt as soar as someone who had been screaming for hours to no end wasn't a good thing.

The snot making her nose stuffy also wasn't a good thing. She's going to have to restock the tissue boxes soon, Taeyeon figured as she used her 4th tissue in one minute. She needed water badly, but getting up was actually really too much trouble this time. She had to pee anyway so might as well get up now and not stall any longer.

Sitting up felt like a massive rock just fell on her head. Taeyeon had to sit on the edge of her bed for a minute until her brain felt stable enough properly operate her limp muscles to use for moving. Thankfully, she didn't forget to put on her slippers this time. What a hassle it was to go to the bathroom and relief herself, but it had to be done.

As she passed by in the corridor, Taeyeon couldn't help it but get curious and glance at Tiffany's door. The lights were off. Her housemate is asleep, perhaps? well, she does wake up at 6 in the morning everyday, Taeyeon had noticed. Knowing how healthy Tiffany's lifestyle is from what little interaction the two of them had, Taeyeon figured the girl have turned in to bed at 10.

The thought of her housemate waking up every morning to jog, shower and get ready for an 8 hour workday made Taeyeon feel lucky for not having to ever do that and to keep in mind to be as quiet as possible for the sake of not disturbing the American sleeping beauty's sleep. Might as well stifle her sneezes and coughs.

Approaching the fridge, Taeyeon finally felt pleased when the cold water quenched her thirst, but regretted it only seconds later when her throat was almost throbbing out of pain. It must be swollen, Taeyeon thought. No more cold water for now.

Upon feeling a wave of dizziness, the shorty walked over to the couch in the living area and lied down. Feeling her body finally relax. She's in no state to be moving. So hot yet so cold at the same time. The back of her eyes, ears and teeth hurt. Breathing has become difficult. She could no longer move a single muscle.

Right there, on the couch, Taeyeon fell asleep again. It was the same kind of sleep she had all day. Short. Disturbed. Hazy. Between awake and unconscious. It continued like that for hours. Every time she opened her eyes and glanced at the clock it was 30~40 minutes later than the last time she checked.

The numbers are still engraved in Taeyeon's mind clearly. It was a bit over 2:40 AM when she felt a touch on her face. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Tiffany's figure standing over her. She couldn't tell if she's seeing things, maybe a dream, or if it was real, either way she didn't hate the soft hand on her forehead. They were cold. They calmed down her incredible body heat, but at the same time, they were making her even more cold. If she wasn't already shivering before, she's shivering now.

Soon, the soft cold touch was lost and Tiffany's figure was gone. Taeyeon closed her eyes again. A bit disappointed. She wanted to get up and go back to bed. Get a tissue to blow her stuffy nose in. Get another water bottle to wet her already drying throat. But she couldn't move. She had absolutely no energy to do so.

A minute or so later, she heard a soft beep, fingers playing with the side of her hair, and then something cold oddly touching the inside of her now exposed ear. She frowned at the weird sensation but she didn't open her eyes because she wanted to just drift back to sleep and get the discomfort over with.

A while later, Taeyeon heard two beeps, and the cold thing was removed from her ear. Taeyeon thought Tiffany was done with whatever she was doing with her when she couldn't protest, but she was wrong. Because only a second later, Tiffany's voice broke the dead silence.

"Taeyeon."

Taeyeon didn't answer. She didn't feel like answering. She just wanted to drift back to her empty dream land.

"Tae, get up. We need to get you to the hospital."

Hospital?

Hell no. Taeyeon thought. she didn't budge.

"Taeyeon, please wake up. Your temperature is very high."

Nope.

It seems like illness got to Taeyeon's head and made her forget how determined of a person Tiffany is. Because before she knew it, she was being forcefully made to sit up. She slowly opened her eyes. Clearly bothered by the interference Tiffany made to her sleep. And she was respectful enough to stifle her coughs and sneezes. Now Tiffany does this shit.

"I'm bringing our coats and then we're leaving, okay?"

Is what Taeyeon heard, her vision was too hazy to tell what kind of face Tiffany was making, but she could hear the concern dripping from her voice. She felt bad. The girl was asleep and she probably woke up because she heard that one loud sneeze she couldn't stifle in time.

It was hard to keep her eyes open, but Taeyeon did. She stared at the clock. A red colon flickering between huge red digits every single second without skipping one. She waited there for 5 minutes before Tiffany came back in her range of vision. Already with her coat on and Taeyeon's parka in hand.

"Come on, Tae. Please, get up."

Taeyeon really wanted to do what the girl asked her to, but she couldn't. She had absolutely no energy. She wanted to close her eyes and just go back to sleep to wake up tomorrow, already feeling better. That's not going to be the case, most likely, but Taeyeon's brain was under a lot of heat at the moment to think straight.

"Tae, please don't go limb on me. Help me out here."

Is the last thing Taeyeon remembers hearing before her eyes closed. The last thing she saw was the view of Tiffany holding both of her hands, trying to get her to stand up. Unknown to her, she was about to give her housemate the longest night ever since she moved in this house.


	11. Chapter 11

What a weird dream, Taeyeon thought as her eyes fluttered open. She haven't had memorable dreams for a long time. What she saw was definitely something memorable.

It was her and Tiffany in a car. The pleasant air from the heater made her feel as comfy as a person could possibly get sleeping in the passenger seat of a car. She heard Tiffany's voice a lot. Asking her to get up, to move, to hang in there. All in a worried rushed manner that Taeyeon didn't understand why the American girl had.

However, now as her vision is no longer hazy and unfocused. She finally realized that that's not how her ceiling above her bed or couch looks like. Where else is she sleeping at? Taeyeon sat up in hurry, causing her to get the worst headache she had ever experienced yet since she started falling sick. Her whole body is uncomfortably drenched in sweat.

It's a dimly lit room. All the lights were off, but the slight lighting was coming in from a window, hidden behind a white curtain that blocked what was probably sun light from seeping in. Excluding the almost empty IV drip attached to her hand, it generally looked like someone's bedroom, but Taeyeon knew, it's a hospital room.

Her eyes darted on every surface of the big room, failing to find her phone. She searched the walls with her eyes, looking for a clock. When she found it, she's relieved to see that it's only 11 AM. She wasn't out for long. Taeyeon sighs and lays back down. Eyes unfocused on the IV drip, waiting for it to finish.

She's trying to recollect the happenings of the last 9 hours in which her fever fried her brain up during. Last thing she remembers properly is poor Tiffany trying to get her to stand up from the couch. The rest was a blur. She does remember walking, although with her eyes closed. Tiffany was probably the one supporting her body to the car.

The vast scenery from her house to the hospital. She remembers the familiar colors of the signs they passed by. Next thing was the faint voices of Tiffany and the receptionist, doctor, or nurse, Taeyeon didn't know and really didn't give a shit. All she remembers is telling Tiffany where in her wallet is her ID and which credit card to use to get her in a room alone because she ain't sharing a room with another sick person.

Although all very hazy, Taeyeon does remember somethings in which none of them is good. Hopefully she didn't give Tiffany a hard time which she most likely did. Might as well take the time to think of an apology/thank you gift for the American girl. Even though she had to go back to sleep for work, she helped her out in a crucial time which Taeyeon still doesn't understand why she would do that. She would have probably got better on her own if she slept it off. Or died, that could happen too.

Now that she's thinking about it, Taeyeon tried to swallow a lump in her throat, but her throat was completely dry. Tiffany must have seen a dangerous number to freak out to the point of not wanting to wait until morning to take her to the hospital. She should be really thankful. Really really thankful. The girl is probably dead tired at work right now because of the chaos she caused only hours ago.

Suddenly the door opened, "Hello. You're awake, ma'am?" a nurse came in.

Taeyeon sat up quickly, not too quickly to cause herself another headache. She nodded at the nurse in respect. The nurse strutted in the room and immediately got to checking Taeyeon's temperature, "Excuse me." she said before putting the ear thermometer in Taeyeon's ear. It was a few seconds of awkward silence until a beep was heard. "Your temperature is still a bit high."

"When can I go home?" Taeyeon asked, not paying attention to what the nurse have said after that sentence.

"After this is completely empty. Roughly 1 PM"

 _There is a second one?_ \- Taeyeon sighs internally as she watches the nurse exchange the empty medicine bag with a new full one. She is feeling really uncomfortable right now. One, because she's so sweaty but also very cold. Two, she's anxious with the presence of this stranger who happened to be a nurse. Three, she's outside alone without Jessica, Yuri, or Tiffany. Will she also have to check out and hail a cap by herself?

Fuck, she hates going outside. Really really really hates it. Last time she's been outside was probably that time Yuri and Jessica dragged her out to a cafe for lunch on a cold sunny Sunday afternoon. It was the same fated day that Jessica suggested her to get a roommate. Also, that was all the way back in early January. It's April now. Which means that her last outing was roughly 3 months ago. Damn.

"I'll be back when the IV drip is empty. You know the button to press if you need me."

With that, the nurse was gone from the room. Taeyeon sighed in relief. It was shortly followed with a sharp gasp when she finally really looked at her hand where the needle was stuck. It was bruised. Straight up purple. What have they done to her? Monsters.

Taeyeon groaned. Feeling frustrated with herself for being weak. With Tiffany for not bringing her phone with them. With her disgusting sweaty body. With the IV drip for being way too slow. With the hospital for being a hospital, and finally, with the bed for being too comfy because she's feeling sleepy but there is noway she's ever going to fall asleep again with herself being an anxious wreck. Just the thought of having to go out in public is already making her heart beat faster and her body get even sweatier.

Tiffany better get her ass here soon or later and solve the problem she have caused because Taeyeon ain't leaving this place alone without having a panic attack. Might as have died of high fever if she's gonna die out of a heart attack like this.

* * *

...

Taeyeon lied there. A grumpy look on her face that could be compared to grumpy cat. She feels so uncomfortable in her own sweaty skin that she decided against laying down and sat on the edge of the bed instead. Legs hanging above the ground. Bored out of her mind. Anxiety creeping its ugly head on her every now and then due to the thought that she might have to find a way back home by herself.

 _I wanna go home. I wanna go home. I wanna go home. I wanna go home. I wanna go home._ \- That thought repeated in Taeyeon's mind until she couldn't keep still and literally started shaking in place.

Thankfully, the wait wasn't too long, considering that the IV is almost empty. The door to her hospital room opened, Taeyeon looked back expecting to see the nurse, but it wasn't.

"Hey, Tae. How are you feeling?" It was Tiffany.

Relief washed over Taeyeon, the shaking stopped, a smile traced her face, glad to see a familiar face. She wasn't left alone.

Hearing no answer from Taeyeon, but certainly a positive reaction, Tiffany approached the other girl with confidence, leaving the caution she entered the room with a second ago, "I bought you your phone and a change of clothes." she paused her movement. Although still smiling, her eyebrows came together in a frown when she saw Taeyeon's face, "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks.

"Like what?" Taeyeon asks. Oblivious to the way she's been staring at the other girl.

"Like you're in love with me or something."

Even though she heard that loud and clear, Taeyeon didn't put the tiniest bit of effort to stop doing it, "I don't know." she says.

Although dumbfounded by Taeyeon's action, Tiffany brushes it off as Taeyeon being her weird ass self and shakes her head. She puts the bag next to her before taking a seat on the couch in front of Taeyeon, "Anyway, I'm really sorry I left you alone. I had to go in to work this morning. I had an important meeting. I know how hard it is for you to be out of the house alone. Really, I do, and I don't want you to think that I'm taking it lightly."

"That's okay." Taeyeon smiled at her housemate. Really glad that she came back for her. If not, she doesn't know how she would have made it back home without interacting with anyone with only her wallet on her.

"Really?" Tiffany smiled. Purposely using her beauty to get Taeyeon's forgiveness.

"Un." Taeyeon nods without hesitation, "Thank you for coming back."

"Of course." Tiffany sighs again and leans her back on the couch. Really taking her time to relax. The nervousness and fear she had all morning fading away as she's now sitting in front of Taeyeon who's looking well-ish. "How was the nurse? Was the treatment alright?" she asks.

Taeyeon squints. Trying to remember what the nurse said and did. It's mostly a blob of hazy memories since she tries to block out any memory she has of any social interaction she is forced to have. The nurse might have been super friendly for all she knows but Taeyeon didn't dare to look up.

"It was okay." There is nothing else she could say about it, really. "What about work?" she asks, diverting the conversation from her.

"I took a half day." Tiffany shrugs. "I can't just leave you here all alone, right?"

"You could have called Sica or Yuri to come and get me. They're not as tied up with work as you are."

"Oh..." Tiffany says. Feeling a bit stupid for not thinking about their best friends. She was extremely busy that plus worrying about Taeyeon above only getting a couple of hours of sleep. Then again, Jessica and Yuri are always busy because they're running their own business so she wouldn't have asked either of them anyway. "I'm the one who bought you here, I would rather be the one who takes you back home as well. Otherwise I would be too worried to focus on my work."

Taeyeon looks down at the floor and smiles, "Is that so?" she says shyly. Unconsciously starting to sway herself right and left as if she was on the revolving chair in her room. When she looked up, she saw Tiffany giving her a certain look. The gleam in her eyes visible. Her eyes are so pretty, the shorty thought for the 1000th time since she met the American girl.

"What do you wanna do after this?" Tiffany asks, breaking the comfortable silence, "Go home? or maybe get something to eat first?"

"Huh?" Taeyeon's line of thoughts was cut short when the word _eat_ was heard. "Food first."

"Great!" Tiffany flashes her a smile. "Food it is. What do you want to eat?"

"...pizza?" Taeyeon says with a sheepish grin. Expecting what Tiffany's reaction would be like.

"Hell no." Tiffany rejects the idea sternly, "We're getting some actual real food in that sick little body of yours."

Taeyeon answers with a defeated chuckle. She eats delivery Pizza all the time, but the last time she _left_ the house and ate out was months ago. She remembers clearly. It was a cake she had with the company of Yuri and Jessica. She was telling them how she was bored with everything, and they told her about Tiffany.

Now here she is, sitting right in front of her and taking care of her as if she was a child who can't take care of herself. Which Taeyeon can't help it but be thankful for because she really can't take care of herself all the time. Not good care, at least.

Taeyeon is glad that Tiffany has this perfectionist, hardworking personality. Although there was hate at first, Taeyeon is now believing Tiffany's words when she said that she liked her. Otherwise she wouldn't have gne as far as take the rest of the day off of her dear dear work for her. Well, good thing she's a big fan of Erika Kim.

That's when a question Taeyeon never asked herself popped up in her head.

Which one does Tiffany truly like, Erika Kim? or Kim Taeyeon?

* * *

...

Taeyeon's heart pounded hard against her chest. She looked right and left. Standing on the side walk of a busy street had become a foreign concept to her. She could feel the fear creep up on her as people pass by her. Giving her a second look after making eye contact. Her breath started getting a bit rigged.

Although Tiffany is right there besides Taeyeon, the shorter girl just can't help it but shake in place. Not form cold, although she just took a shower in her hospital room, but from sheer fear. All sorts of scenarios come up one after the other inside her head. Getting worse and worse by the second and only increasing her anxiety.

The thought that someone could just come up to her any time they want and talk to her, soon after find out how fucked up she is on the inside scared the living shit out of her.

Because then they would be repulsed.

Then she would try to explain herself.

Why she's like this.

People would notice.

They'll point at her and make fun of her.

Push her in the sand box in the playground and try to bury her.

Sand is getting in her mouth.

She can't speak.

Sand is getting in her eyes.

It burns.

She can't see.

She can't breath.

She's dying.

No one will help.

After all, her family is weird.

She's weird.

It's scary.

It's hot.

There's no air.

No light.

"Taeyeon!"

A gasp.

"Is everything...alright?"

It's Tiffany.

"...what?" Taeyeon swallows a lump in her throat. She looks right and left. She's still in the hospital's parking lot. The noise of the people passing by them and the busy street in front of them have blended in the background of the nightmare she calls _the outside world_.

"Hey...you're shaking. Hurry, get in the car. We just came out of the hospital, I don't want you going back in."

Taeyeon didn't even get the chance to say anything to explain what have happened there as Tiffany have already pushed her inside the car in which she's glad she did. The shorty really didn't want to explain what kind of nostalgic stupid bullshit was going in her head in that exact moment. She thought Tiffany didn't need to know nor did she want to tell anyway, so for now, it's best to just not say anything.

Hot air blew very gently on Taeyeon's face as Tiffany started her pink Chevrolet. Taeyeon sighs as the comfort of being in a small cozy space surrounded her and warmed her whole body up. This is what she likes. Small, cozy, and safe. She wanted to go back to sleep but the IV drips and the shower left her feeling energetic.

"You sit weird." Tiffany comments in amusement.

Taeyeon looks at her housemate in confusion then looks at her sitting manner. She has her legs up, hugging her knees to her chest. "Ah, sorry. I'll pay for the cleaning." she says and quickly puts her legs down. Realizing that she's dirtying Tiffany's car seat with her shoes.

"Not that, you idiot!" Tiffany chuckles. "It's okay, it's okay. Get comfy."

Although Tiffany said that, Taeyeon didn't resume her previous posture, a bit embarrassed that she was called out for something she didn't think was weird. To her, now there's one more thing she's conscious about, although Tiffany would never know how that single comment affected Taeyeon.

Through all the people that they passed by in the car, Taeyeon felt envious of every single person walking on the curb. Straight faced, not caring about what anyone thinks. Just lost in their own thoughts. To anyone else, this is just a normal everyday scene. To Taeyeon, this is something she's jealous of.

"We're here."

Tiffany's voice snapped Taeyeon out of her own little world which seems to be happening a lot lately. When Taeyeon realized it, Tiffany is leading the way inside the cafe she likes. The one she usually comes to with Yuri and Jessica. The one with the good cake and sandwiches. The only place she feels comfortable enough to go to alone because she's been visiting it for a long time.

The young girl running the cashier immediately recognized Taeyeon on first glance. A smile graces her lips, "Welcome."

In respond, Taeyeon smiled back and bowed her head, "Hello." she greeted.

Tiffany was immediately alarmed. She looked at Taeyeon and the young girl back and forth in a baffled matter. She didn't think Taeyeon would be brave enough to greet anyone, and in this case, she seemed familiar with the young girl who didn't look a day out of high school. Although after meeting Taeyeon, Tiffany learned not to assume people's ages from their looks. Bartenders and Club bouncers surely must have it hard.

"Tae, come here." Tiffany called out to get Taeyeon's attention as the girl was about to bump into someone. The two sat at a table and Tiffany gave Taeyeon a look when she didn't see the girl grabbing the menu. "I'm guess you already know what you want."

"Yeah." Taeyeon answered simply.

Tiffany got a bit annoyed at Taeyeon's short answer. She wants an explanation but from the girl's attitude, she's not going to give one unless she's asked for it. "Do you come here often?" she asks.

"Nope."

"So every now and then?"

"Yeah."

"What do you usually order?"

"Double chocolate loaf cake."

"This is the place I bought the sandwiches from the day before yesterday."

"I see."

"Are you getting a slice of cake for lunch?"

"Yeah."

"No, you're not."

"Why not?"

"I told you, you need to get something good in your system."

"...a sandwich?"

"Yup."

"Okay..."

Finally, Taeyeon grabs the menu, not really minding that Tiffany is getting a bit controlling over her. Judging from her gorgeous beautiful body, Tiffany knows exactly what's going inside of her it.

So if Taeyeon has to trust someone to put food in her mouth, it's going to be Tiffany.


	12. Chapter 12

It's a bit over 7 PM when Jessica arrives at the home of Taeyeon and Tiffany. It's quiet like usual. She is however not surprised when she sees Tiffany laying on the couch, legs dangling on the edge, her attention occupied with a book. "Hey," the blonde greets.

"What's up?" Tiffany spares her best friend a glance before her eyes go back to her book.

"I brought side dishes." The blonde places a plastic bag on the kitchen counter and starts unloading the containers in the fridge. "Taeng's asleep?"

"Yup."

"Is she eating alright?"

Tiffany grins to herself, full of pride, "Yeah, I have been kind of force feeding her. You were right. She does forget to eat." she hears Jessica sigh, "You don't need to worry anymore. She's not eating cup ramen on my watch."

There was a moment of silence, then, "I'm sorry."

Hearing that, Tiffany rests her book on her stomach and sits up to look at her blonde friend properly. She was smiling but was kind of avoiding meeting her eyes. "Why are you apologizing?" the brunette asks in confusion.

"Because Yuri and I knew this was going to happen. That you wouldn't help it but try to take care of Taeyeon."

Tiffany chuckles, "It's alright. I kind of figured that out already."

"You're not upset? I know how frustrating Taeng could be."

"Nah. She does get me quite frustrated but I have something to think about other than my work, so it's fine. Besides, Tae's cute."

There was an eerie pause. It was only seconds later did Tiffany realize what her friend was most likely thinking about and looked up to see what kind of face she had. The blonde was indeed giving her a certain look.

"No." Tiffany was quick to deny what the blonde was already thinking. Although she didn't say anything.

"It's okay. You don't have to deny it. I know Taeng is charming in her own way."

"She is, but I don't think of her that way...yet."

The blonde squints, "And by yet, you mean...?"

"I mean..." Tiffany sighs and runs her hand through her silky, shiny brown hair, "I mean...she's not really my type...I like my women to be...you know, dominant, charismatic and outgoing. However, Taeyeon is..."

"The complete opposite of that."

"Yes!"

"But you're still attracted to her."

"Exactly"

"I just...I don't..." the brunette sighs again and looks at her best friend with pleading eyes, "Help."

Jessica laughs, holding on to the kitchen counter for support to not fall on her knees. It's always fun to watch the oh so confident Tiffany Hwang frustrated.

"It's not funny." The brunette says, pouting.

"It is to me."

Tiffany listens to Jessica's laugh for a whole other minute before she clicks her tongue with frustration and lays back down, book on her face to block the lights that combined with her best friend's laughs were giving her a headache.

"First of all,"

Tiffany doesn't look but she is listening.

"What kind of attraction is it? Do you see her just as a friend?" The blonde asks.

"Definitely not just a friendship thing." Tiffany was quick to deny it.

"Romantic attraction?"

"I don't know about that."

"Sexual attraction?"

"What?...w- well, at first no...but, I hadn't gave it a serious thought, I guess."

"Spiritual attraction?"

"Huh? uh...yeah, it's there."

"Entrepreneurial attraction?"

"...what?"

"Entrepreneurial attraction. Do you think you make a great team or not?" Jessica repeats in English.

"Ahh...yeah...I think so. Since we have been peacefully living together for months now."

"Mental attraction?"

"I...don't really understand her mentality that much."

"There's your problem. Try to understand her more and you'll be golden."

"Well, I have tried."

"And?"

"I did manage to get her to explain to me some things."

"So?"

"It's not that simple."

"Yes, it is. Taeyeon is a simple girl with a pretty simple mentality. If she likes doing something, she'll do it, whether it's good for her or not. If she likes some food. She'll eat it. Even if it's bad for her. If she's comfortable going to a certain place, she'll go, disregarding her social anxiety. If she likes someone, she'll get attached and give her trust pretty easily, and since _she_ trusts _you_ , I assure you, you can trust her too. You have my word, she'll never let you down. Even if it meant she would fall with you or even fall in your place."

In Jessica's words, it should be simple, but still, Tiffany couldn't understand how someone's brain could work that way, and because she doesn't understand how someone could have that certain line of thoughts, she just can't trust Taeyeon. She's like this alien to her.

"Is it...a status thing?"

Tiffany frowns when she hears that, but then she gives the question a chance to really sink in, and she is struck by a realization she would rather not have known. She opens her mouth, but closes it again. Lost in her own thoughts for a mere second, "...if by status you mean Taeyeon being a beautiful, wealthy, secretly famous author then...I won't say that it's not a part of it, but it's not just that that I'm attracted to. I like the way she looks, the way she moves, gosh, even the way she smells. How she doesn't seem like it, but she's actually really smart."

Jessica looks at her hands and smiles as she listens to her best friend talk about her other best friend. It's a bit heart warming to her considering how Tiffany really disliked Taeyeon at first.

"It's just..." Tiffany sighs, "I have made Taeyeon comfortable enough to trust me which thank you for by the way. I don't know what you told her but for some reason, she trusts whatever you said about me.'

The blonde shrugs.

"Being around her is pretty comfortable. Even with all the uniqueness and mystery surrounding her, but..."

There was a slightly audible gasp coming from Jessica, now realizing why Tiffany is being so hesitant, "Oh, _you_ don't trust her."

"...yeah." Tiffany says meekly, "I can't trust someone I don't understand."

"Then try."

"I am trying, but the more I know the less I understand how her brain works"

"Then watch her. Listen to her. Pay attention to her. Observe her. It's really not that hard to understand what kind of personality she has. Then you will understand why she thinks the way she does."

* * *

...

Legs heavy, Tiffany drags herself out of her car, out of the garage, through the front yard, to the front door, and barely gathers the strength to put in the passcode. The door opens with a ding and the vogue editor never felt so happy to finally be home. Why isn't there a door leading from the garage directly to inside the house? Tiffany asked herself that every single day.

As soon as she stood inside the house, she spotted shoes that were not hers nor Taeyeon's which means they belonged to either Jessica or Yuri. She sighed again, hoping that her friends won't mind if she didn't accompany them tonight as she is very tired from a long taxing work day. Today was a deadline her department almost missed and she had to do overtime to compensate for the lack of it.

Although her bed is the ultimate comfort she's looking for. A warm bath is what she wants right now. A meal is what should come next. Perhaps she could borrow a ramen from Taeyeon as cooking or delivery would take too much time and effort. Climbing the stairs was a taxing task that had to be done and Tiffany really didn't want to do it. She didn't have the strength to.

With a grimace, she started the unavoidable journey to her room. Every step was a struggle. Every time the bottom of her feet touched a step, pain would take over her whole leg which slowed up the progress. Words cannot describe the number of times she almost cursed out loud.

It was 49 times.

Finally, a slight smile graces her face when she sees her room's door, but she was quickly distracted from that. Her vision traveled to Taeyeon's open door. She could hear voices. Not clear enough to be able to tell what they were talking about.

Just to announce that she's back home, Tiffany lets herself in her housemate's room and peeks just slightly through the small opening.

 _Who...?_

The back of someone unfamiliar faced her. There was a female with shoulder length brown hair, white skinny jeans with a chain belt, a black top, and a golden watch that reflected the light from the ceiling. Shininess almost blinding Tiffany. She was leaning over Taeyeon, a hand on the desk, and the other resting on Taeyeon's left shoulder, both looking at the PC screen in silence.

Tiffany was about to clear her throat to get their attention, but she got it before she did that as the girl sensed her presence and looked back right at her. Their eyes met. The girl had her plump lips slightly open as she stared at Tiffany for about 30 seconds in silence.

"T- Taeyeon-ah..." she finally spoke. Voice sweet. She shook Taeyeon's shoulder that she was holding.

"Hm?" Taeyeon did not look away from the screen.

"There is a girl staring us." she said breathlessly. As if terrified of Tiffany, it was apparent that that was the case when she took a step back, bumping into Taeyeon's desk and confusing the hell out of Taeyeon.

"What?" Taeyeon looks back with a frown. Her pearly whites immediately show when she sees Tiffany squinting at them, "Hi, Tiffany. Welcome back."

"Oh, she's a real person." The girl immediately relaxes and sighs of relief. "Thank god. I thought you were the ghost in the room next door."

"Wait, what ghost?" Tiffany's eyes widen. Ghost? In the room next door? As in the locked room that Taeyeon refuses to tell her what's in it?

Both Taeyeon and the girl look back and forth at her and at each other as if contemplating whether to tell her or not which sent Tiffany's heart rate up the sky. The pattern was broken when the girl smiled and approached Tiffany with an extended hand and an eye smile similar to her own, "Hi, I'm Sunny Lee."

"Tiffany Hwang." Tiffany shakes the hand extended to her, "Taeyeon's housemate."

An eyebrow was risen, "You have a housemate now? What the heck?" Sunny looks back at Taeyeon, "Since when?"

Taeyeon looks at Tiffany and squints, "Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiive...months ago?"

"What?! Since January?! Why didn't you tell me and how did we manage to miss each other almost...10 times?" Sunny was certainly surprised by hearing that.

"Ahhhh...I forgot." Taeyeon smiles sheepishly.

"Jesus, Taeyeon. How could you forget something like that?" Sunny face palms.

Taeyeon shrugs.

"I'm assuming she knows?"

"Yup"

Tiffany fake smiles. Feeling really awkward and out of place for being excluded of the conversation and not knowing what the two were talking about. "Um..."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'm her editor." Sunny says.

"Editor?" Tiffany asks in confusion.

"Yes, from Korean Publishers Cooperative."

"I see..." Tiffany's eyes traveled to the screen Taeyeon is currently staring at. It's an open word document with a whole lot of text to read through. It's a new book. Taeyeon's writing a new book. Erika Kim is writing a new book! The fan girl inside her is coming out. Her legs literally started shaking in place as her eyes darted from the screen to Sunny. Trying her best not to let her excitement shine through.

"Well, someone's a fan." Sunny comments with a chuckle when she notices Tiffany's body language.

The writer glances at her housemate with a straight face. A look in her eyes that Tiffany couldn't make out what it meant. As per usual. "Kinda." she says with a sheepish smile.

"Kinda?' Sunny squints, "You look like you're about to piss your pants from excitement!" she laughs. "I feel you, though. I reacted the same way when I first met her."

Tiffany awkwardly laughs along. "Can I get you a drink or anything?" she asks out of politeness.

"I'm good." Sunny smiles sweetly at her. "I'm leaving in a few anyway."

"I see. Sorry for disturbing your work and please do make yourself at home." Tiffany starts walking backwards, indicating that it's time for her to leave them alone to do their work.

"No problem at all. Thanks Tiffany."

It was a simple short small talk that happened between them, but Tiffany couldn't stop thinking about the times she saw Taeyeon on her PC. Typing away. She always wondered what she was writing.

It's her 6th book.

What kind of story is it?

What genre?

So far the first and second were real life stories masked as fiction. The third and forth one were fantasy and adventure. The fifth one was a collection of short stories in which to be honest, Tiffany wasn't completely excited to read, but then she did, and she's really glad she did.

Erika Kim has the ability to convey in a few words what many authors take several pages to convey. Every single one of her books haunted Tiffany for days and weeks. They have even stayed with her for months on end.

Just thinking about how there might be a book out from Erika Kim soon makes Tiffany want to jump and down. Possibly piss her pants of excitement as Sunny said.

However, all excitement was forgotten when her eyes caught sight of the door next to Taeyeon's. A ghost, Sunny said. Do ghosts even exist? she asked herself. Never in her life did she experience anything super natural so the answer is no(?)

Just as that thought passed through Tiffany's mind, a thin layer of sweat started forming under her bangs, covering her forehead. Her heart rate started going up to the point she could hear it pounding in her ears. Her legs started shaking because it didn't take long to answer her questions. Silently and very slowly but surely, the door handle started moving. Up...and down...up...and down. As if there was someone inside trying to open the door and come out.

Tiffany never screamed so hard in her life.


	13. Chapter 13

"Are...you okay?" Sunny asked with a concerned tone. She had to lean down a bit to get a glimpse of Tiffany hiding under Taeyeon's desk, holding on tightly into her housemate's legs. Looking like a terrified cat.

Tiffany didn't dare to look up. As soon as she saw the demonic door knob, her heart fell into her stomach before she bolted back to Taeyeon's room, might as well be mistaken as The Flash. Her whole body shook. Her heart beat so hard and fast she could hear it ringing in her ears. "No!" she said, "The knob on the room next door just moved on it's own and I'm not living for this demonic bullshit." she explains swiftly.

With a sigh, Taeyeon silently scoots back and holds Tiffany's hands, helping her up. Tiffany waits for an explanation from either of the two but neither of them muttered a word. Instead, they stood there awkwardly. Looking at the floor as if both of them were deep in their own thoughts.

"Someone cares to explain?" Tiffany interrupted the silence impatiently.

Sunny looked up. She seemed to be internally struggling with something judging from the sour faces she was making. She was first in explaining the situation. "That room...is kind of...like...haunted, okay?" she says.

"Haunted?!" Tiffany squints in an angry manner, "Care to elaborate, Taeyeon?"

In response to her angry housemate, Taeyeon goes into a light fit of coughing and scoots further back until she bumped into her bed and couldn't be further from Tiffany without getting up. "I...used to use that room when I first moved here...now I don't."

"Elaborate." Tiffany repeats sternly. Not satisfied with such a vague explanation.

"Super natural things happen there, basically." Sunny interrupted. Saving her friend from Tiffany's nearly out clutches. "We would leave things in certain places and then come back to see that they're not there but in a different place. Somethings are still nowhere to be found, even. We would leave the room clean and come back to find it in a mess. Every single night, Taeng would wake up at 3 in the morning screaming from nightmares and even started suffering from extreme sleep paralysis. So she saged it, locked it, and moved her stuff here."

When Tiffany gave Taeyeon a sharp look, Taeyeon was quick to nod furiously. Agreeing with her editor.

Tiffany throws her hands in the air, "And you didn't tell me this before I moved here because...?" she asks. Pissed off at Taeyeon from not telling her everything about the house. She hates feeling this way especially that Taeyeon is the person who triggered these feelings inside of her, but she feels this strong sense of betrayal.

"Because it's not happening in the whole house. It's just that one room." Taeyeon explains frantically. The cold sweat from fear and nervousness sliding down the side of her face.

"Oh, I see." Tiffany smiles and nods.

Sunny's eyes follow Tiffany as she makes her way out of the room and Taeyeon quickly strutting behind her with a distressed face. She follows the two just for fun. To see what Tiffany would do and amused by the way Taeyeon is reacting to the American girl's anger. Taeyeon was never afraid to flutter anyones feathers if she had to, but not when it comes to this girl, apparently.

She watches as Taeyeon stands there in the middle of the hall way, fingers and toes fidgeting together as she watches Tiffany from outside of her room, get out her Louis Vuitton bag meant for short trips and started putting stuff in it.

"Where are you going?" Taeyeon asks, not daring to enter her housemate's room.

"Yul's and Jessi's."

"Y- You're not moving out, are you?"

Sunny chuckles at her friend's stuttering. She hadn't seen this version of Taeyeon since the last time they went out together. Months ago.

"No, but I would never be able to sleep here tonight."

Soon enough, Tiffany gets up with her Louis Vuitton bag on her shoulder and closes her bedroom door behind her. She stands face to face with Taeyeon. A bit too close for comfort. Anger masking her usually kind relaxed face. She doesn't say anything and turns to the stairs after a few seconds.

Taeyeon follows once Tiffany starts descending, "When are you coming back?"

"Whenever." Tiffany says, not bothering to look back.

Sunny couldn't help it but feel sorry for her friend when she sees her face palm as the sound of the front door closing was heard. She put a hand on her shoulder and pulls her close. "Hey...why are you so upset?" she asks. Hand rubbing her shoulder.

"I didn't think the room issue was that important." Taeyeon shakes her head and sighs. "I was wrong." she admits.

Sunny chuckles. Taeyeon is rarely ever wrong. "Look at the bright side. You have the house all to yourself tonight until god knows when. No one's here to bother you."

When she hears that, Taeyeon realizes. Tiffany's presence in the house hadn't been a bother at all. In fact, she smiles every time she goes down stairs and finds one of Tiffany's clothing pieces on the couch or on the kitchen counter or even when she sees her boujee flavored water in the fridge or left overs from their dinner together from the night before. She wasn't a bother. At all. It's as if she knew her limits and kept them.

Taeyeon wasn't as lonely as before since Tiffany came around.

Now she's gone.

Now she's without a doubt mad at her.

Now she might move out.

Now Taeyeon is hating herself for not having common sense.

There's a demonic room in the house, of course she should have told Tiffany from the very beginning, only now she realizes. Although most people would probably think she's just crazy, judging by Tiffany's reaction, she believes her and she's absolutely terrified. Should she just tell the girl everything? Is that how things are ever going to go smoothly?

And so, Taeyeon sighs and face palms in distress again.

God damn it.

* * *

...

The sound of the bed creaking in the next room is the exact reason why Tiffany was in a hurry to leave Yuri's and Jessica's apartment. As thankful as she is to them for housing her in times of a crisis, she really does not enjoy having to hear them have sex. Her ears and head are in constant pain all night due to loud music literally vibrating her earbuds. It's the only way she could get comfortable enough on the already comfy couch.

Tonight marks three nights in a row without going back home. Remembering Taeyeon's lonely face when she told her she's not sleeping there for now makes her wonder if she over reacted, but then again, the thought of having a haunted room only 20 feet away from the room she's sleeping in makes her nauseous and the thought of how she did do just that for five months makes her anger at housemate reignite.

She was just doing some research for work on her laptop while listening to main stream American pop music when she sees Yuri from the corner of her eye come out of the bedroom with a bathrobe covering her sweaty body. She lowers the volume when she sees Yuri's lips move. "Water break." Yuri repeats, walking towards the fridge nonchalantly and shamelessly flaunting the fact that she was just having sex with her girlfriend not even a minute ago. "Whatcha doin'?" She asks before placing the rim of the water bottle on her ravished lips.

"Work stuff." Tiffany answers with a sigh. Her eyes focusing on the laptop screen. It's always work stuff. She's always working. She has been working since she got hired in her current job without a vacation and it's about time she gets some time off and unwind, Yuri thinks.

"Me and Sica are going on a road trip this weekend." Yuri states. Studying every change in Tiffany's expression. "We were thinking of dragging Taeng along. If you have time maybe you could tag along?"

Tiffany finally looks up at the mention of that. She's never been on a road trip since she was a kid. It was one of her last memories of her mother. She can't remember all of that certain weekend. However, the chilliness of the car as the air conditioning lowered the heat of her body. The faint sound of her parents murmuring and giggling to each other quietly, afraid to wake her up. The image of their backs that she saw from the back seat of the car is an one thing she could never forget.

There wasn't a single white hair in her Dad's glories shaggy brown mane like hair. Now it's short, white, and slicked back. Her Dad have changed a lot since her mother passed. She was the love of his life and he made sure to tell her that every single day of her life with him. That being said, Tiffany feels a bang of pain in her heart thinking about her father.

He was lonely when she left.

She shouldn't have left.

She feels a sense of self-loathing every time she remembers the image of him waving to her good bye in the airport as they were parting. He had a smile on his face despite the tears streaming from both of their eyes. She left him there, in the states. He asked her to leave him there. He didn't want her with him. Saying that he wants to be alone. But Tiffany is sure it was for her sake. After all, the opportunity to work for Vouge was suddenly within her reach and the only thing stopping her was that she didn't want to leave her Dad alone.

She did.

At least now he has someone. Tiffany didn't realize she was smiling to herself as she thought of the sloppy selfie her Dad sent her with his new girlfriend. She's very pretty. Not as pretty as her mom, but still pretty. He looked happy. As long as he's happy, Tiffany is happy. And so she thinks, maybe it's time to overwrite the memory. It's time to move on like her Dad finally did.

"I'll go." she tells Yuri.

"Great!" The dark girl exclaims. Smiling widely. Pleased with Tiffany's decision.

"Yuri-ah~"

Both of their ears perk up when they hear Jessica's voice calling for her girlfriend from the bedroom sweetly.

"Yes, baby?" Yuri responds with much enthusiasm. Closing the fridge that has been open for a few minutes now, causing her to shiver slightly.

"Come here. I have a surprise for you!" The American blonde announces.

"Hell yeah." Yuri says while licking her lips and walks to the bedroom.

"Hell no." Meanwhile Tiffany grimaces in disgust. She closes her laptop and gets up. Gathering her stuff in her Louis Vuitton bag.

Before going inside, Yuri pauses and watches Tiffany gathering her stuff in confusion. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. I miss Taeyeon's reticence." she gives Yuri a look just to make sure that the other girl knows that she has had enough of listening to live porn right in the next room.

Yuri seemed to get the hint and winked at Tiffany before closing the door, "Come by anytime. Maybe next time we'll let you watch." she was very quick in closing the door, completely missing the couch pillow Tiffany threw at her. It was only two seconds later did she open the door again. "What about the ghost though? I thought you were scared."

With a very monotone state of voice and a poker face Tiffany looks at her friend, "What ghost?"

Yuri frowns in confusion, "The god damn ghost in Taeng's house that you're hiding here from?"

"Hm?" Tiffany smiles just slightly. Eyes not having the same idea as her lips. "I don't know what you're talking about."

There was a moment of eerie silence that went away when Yuri cleared her throat, "I-...I need to go. You be careful driving, okay?" she says carefully. A bit scared of her friend, not knowing what have come over her all of a sudden.

Once the door is closed, Tiffany sighs and picks up her bag. She's still pretty scared, to be honest, but no matter how long she stays away, she's gonna have to go back home sooner or later. With the sound of moaning and the bad cracking resuming a bit too soon to her liking, Tiffany decided that she preferred sooner than later.

Sleeping near ghosts is better than listening to her best friends having sex. Tiffany decided.

Way better.

* * *

...

It's 1 AM on a Tuesday morning. Taeyeon has been laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling the whole day. Drowning in the darkness that sometimes consumes her whole being, rendering her helpless. Unable to even get out of bed. She hadn't written anything today. She hadn't _done_ anything today. She woke up late in the morning, except for the occasional trips to the bathroom and the fridge to drink some much needed water that quenched her thirst, she accepted the fact that her Monday would go to waste early on. Not that she had anything of extreme importance to do.

Every day she spent her life filling up time with things that she has always wanted to do as a kid, things that grab her attention now as an adult, without a single care for how fast the world was moving around her. She chose to stay in her little bubble. Transparent enough to see through what other people were doing, but she didn't dare to- or rather she didn't want to step outside and be a normal human being who does normal things like get a job, go to work, have a significant other, go out with friends, or visit family on holidays.

It's not like she hates it too. She actually really loves being alone. After all, it's all she's ever known. After her Dad left, Her grandad and both her siblings passed, all who's left for her was her mother who wasn't there in the first place. Taeyeon was alone. All alone left in a harsh reality where she had to stand up straight all by herself and try to survive with what little resources she was given.

Little happy moments consisted of enjoying a book. Being full after having a cheap meal that is definitely leading her to the path of getting malnutrition. Not being chosen to answer a question she didn't know the answer to during class. Getting the occasional full mark within a report card of straight A's and getting praised by the teacher. Just little things that made her smile every now and then.

However, Taeyeon is still human and the need to have close relationships with other fellow humans is in her human nature. Growing up convincing herself that she's fine on her own, the young author unconsciously started believing that no such thing as a friend is important to be happy. Of course she soon came to realize that it's just not the case.

When it comes to happiness, friends are the key. All it took to know that was for Taeyeon to experience having a friend, and that's when Jessica came in. She just happened to be seated next to her in class. Asked if she could sit with her on the same table in the cafeteria, and after exchanging a few awkward sentences that one couldn't call a proper conversation, Taeyeon found herself enjoying having conversations with the American girl about anything and everything. It was as easy as that with Yuri too.

She gets it, really. That she can't live her whole life all alone, and that without her two friends who are each holding a hand, holding her up so she won't fall in that dark hole again, she will be stuck inside of it. Drowning in her own self-destructive thoughts. She haven't had bad days in a while. Since Tiffany started cooking, Taeyeon noted. Or rather, since the two of them started spending some time together. Although not a lot. Only a 2 to 3 hours in the evening as they have dinner.

Even if it's just small conversations about how Tiffany's work day went or what activity Taeyeon spent her day doing, Taeyeon have realized now that those small conversation and that single meal she has with Tiffany during the evening was something she looked forward to. She tried to figure out why. Whether if it's for the good food or Tiffany's company. It was both.

Although it hadn't been that long, dinner with Tiffany have become the same as Yuri coming over just to hang around and Jessica resting her legs on her lap and watching her play video games while complaining about work and her girlfriend. Dinners with Tiffany have become an activity Taeyeon looked forward to feeling the joy of, and as a result, she's now immensely disappointed, sad, and guilty for having done something that made Tiffany not being able to withstand being inside the house nonetheless sleep in it.

Alongside spending the day hating herself, Taeyeon tried to think of ways to make the situation better. What could she possibly say or do that could convince Tiffany to come back? First thing she should do is apologize, as she still hadn't done that yet.

...

...

 _Then what?_

With very little will power and a spec of determination, Taeyeon managed to sit up. Although completely hopeless, she pulled her seemingly heavy body off the bed and struggled to take that one step ahead to reach her chair. She sat down with a heavy sigh and stared into complete darkness for the next 10 minutes or so.

Finally enough will power to click on the power button, Taeyeon felt sick to her throat. Spending the whole day laying down and suddenly sitting up with an empty stomach made her stomach a bit unwell, but it wasn't the time for it. It was never the time for anything she needed if she didn't think of it as something important. If she's alive and moving, it's never important.

The PC is powered on. Her eyes exploded due to the brightness of the screen. She's blind now. She puts her head on the edge of the desk and internally groans in pain. Eyes clenched shut. Every single time. One lesson she'll never learn. A few seconds pass and she finally opens her eyes. Scared that the same thing will happen again but it turned out okay. She put her black rims on and opened Google Chrome.

 _How to make someone forgive me?_ \- She wrote down in the search bar. It took 0.45 seconds to find 44,000,000 results. First link was a article titled 3 Ways to Ask for Forgiveness. Taeyeon had a little bit of faith in wikihow, as it helped her learn a lot of new things. Including how to care for your pet rock(she wanted a pet. anything alive would probably die in her hands out of neglect) and how to develop telekinesis(she still practices to this day).

Skipping the useless slap of a paragraph at the beginning of the article, Taeyeon moves directly to the numbered points.

Method 1

Prepare to ask for forgiveness.

1\. Think about what you did to upset the person.

She is convinced she had spent enough time thinking about it for the last 3 days. She put Tiffany in a rather scary situation by not telling her what's going on within that single room in this house. Not everybody has the same mind set as her. Not everybody is okay with a ghost existing in the room next door. Taeyeon fully realizes her mistake. Next time she shall think about things that are obvious to her more. Note to self, Google how to develop common sense later.

2\. Understand why you did what you did.

It was fairly obvious. She didn't tell Tiffany that there is a ghost in the next door room because she didn't think the American girl had anything to do with that room. It's now basically a storage for even more books, boxes filled with old consoles and games, clothes. Batteries. Wires. Some of Yuri's and Jessica's stuff that they didn't have the space for. Just things she didn't need laying around the house were kept in that room.

Last time she went in there was around roughly two months ago when it started getting hot and she needed to switch her heavy clothes with lighter ones. Nothing happened. Although Taeyeon did feel a presence in the room as soon as she stepped in. Nothing abnormal happened.

So thinking that it wasn't a big deal, and now she realizes, she must have unconsciously known that Tiffany would react badly to it, she didn't tell her. Why did her subconscious make her act like that? Taeyeon ponders for a few seconds.

A conclusion quickly put itself together in her mind. She was incredibly lonely when she agreed to get a roommate. Having Tiffany, a trusted friend of Yuri and Jessica be the one is a chance Taeyeon didn't afford to pass on, and if a harmless ghost in one of the rooms could have possibly made Tiffany turn down the offer, Taeyeon's subconscious didn't allow her to take any chances. Note to self. Read about the subconscious state of mind.

3\. Empathize with the person you wronged.

What if she was in Tiffany's shoes? What if she was scared of ghosts?

"..."

Nothing. She's not feeling anything. Okay, something else then. What is something Taeyeon is scared of? Crowds? What if a crowd was in that room?

A moment of thinking later, Taeyeon still feels nothing. If she doesn't open the door then she could just convince herself that the crowd doesn't exist and go on with her life. Yeah, that's right. Fuck it. Let them die of thirst, hunger, cholera, or other diseases caused by contact with human feces because that room has no bathroom.

Or she could just call Yuri or Jessica to kindly escort them out, that's one solution.

Okay, something else then. What is something she's scared of facing but she's gonna have to face if it was in that room. She didn't have to think much to know what it is. Or rather who it is. As it's always in the back of her mind. She usually avoids thinking about it as it fucks her up when she does.

What if her mother was in that room?

She would never be able to pretend that no one's there and go on with her life, after all, seeing her mother again is something that truly scares her. She hadn't seen her since she moved out for collage. How many years has it been? She was nineteen when she moved out. She's now twenty-six, so...seven years?

Her mother probably doesn't want to see her. After all, she has a kind, wealthy husband and new kids. She doesn't need her. She's probably a part of her life that she doesn't want to remember. She's gonna be upset with her if she ever saw her face. She was just a hindrance to her mother. An extra weight to carry in a time when she couldn't even carry herself. Just a both-

 _Why am I thinking about this now?_ \- Without realizing it, Taeyeon had made herself upset. She blinked away the moister that have formed in the corners of her eyes and shook her head. If her mother was in the room next door, she wouldn't want to stay in this house either. She would stay away until the woman is gone.

So that's why Tiffany left. She could get her mother out without facing her but ghosts don't go away on their own.

Okay, she empathizes.

Next.

4\. Remember that your mistake does not make you a bad person.

She doesn't think she's a bad person. Just selfish, probably. Because her subconscious thought of it self's desires before thinking about someone else's well-being. But then she continues reading.

One study found that taking a few moments to affirm your good qualities (in private, before you apologize to someone) can make the apology easier. Try taking a moment to yourself before your next apology, look at yourself in the mirror, and say three things that you like about yourself.

No mirror needed. She probably looks like hell and she doesn't need to affirm that fact. Three things she likes about herself. She looks down at her keyboard and ponders. What the hell is so good about her? Nothing, she realizes. She's just a lazy anti-social selfish little shit who's scared to face her own demons.

As if she just had a shot of vodka, Taeyeon grimaces due to the negative line of thoughts that's going through her mind at the moment. She has to find something to like about herself, or else she won't be able to apologize to Tiffany properly, or so she convinces herself. And so, she opens a new tap and un-ironically writes in the search bar, "What do I like about myself?"

Before clicking enter, she realized how stupid she was and face palmed before fixing it. "What do you like about yourself?" and enter. It takes 0.63 seconds to find 652,000,000 results. She clicks the first link not caring what site or what the title even was. She finds that it's a forum of people listing ten qualities they like about themselves.

LILYSMOM08

1) My positive attitude _Nope_  
2) The way I'm close to family (including pets) _Strong Nope_  
3) Longtime loyal friendships Okay, she got that. Jessica and Yuri coming through  
4) High energy _Absolutely not_  
5) Always wanting to learn Rather than wanting, needing is the word Taeyeon would use due to all the aspects she lacks.  
6) Industrious She chuckles at even suggesting that. _That's a no._  
7) Determination _No_  
8) Resilience She has one job, and that's to write stories. She hadn't finished a story in two years.  
9) Kindness and compassion (I really do try and live the "The Golden Rule") She thinks of donating quite the large sum to charity and helping her friends start their business as her duty as a wealthy person. She wasn't sure if she could really call herself kind nor compassionate.  
10) Spirituality ~ thankful to God for all of the above. She doesn't understand what being spiritual properly means even after looking up the definition so no for now.

As if the weight of the whole world was resting on her shoulders. Taeyeon sighs heavily rolls her eyes. Upset with herself. That wasn't as helpful as she thought it would be. But then again, she recognizes that every person is different so maybe checking another person's answers will contribute to her search for self-love.

STACENATOR

1\. I love my smile. She has this fear in the back of her head that she might look like Johnny from The Shining when she smiles.  
2\. I love my talents...I love to dance (belly dance, salsa), arts (painting), decorating. She can paint nails like a pro and she's proud of it. _Heck yeah!_  
3\. I love that I am caring. _Dissenting._  
4\. I love that I am thoughtful of others. _What others?_  
5\. I love that I am generous, even if to a fault _Compared to Oprah, I'm nowhere near being generous._  
6\. I love that I have a close relationship with my mom as she has been my rock and taught me so much. _Oh, god why._  
7\. I love my hair...some days! _Can't relate._  
8\. I love that I am down to earth...a girly-girl but can get dirty with the best of them! _Other than the nail painting thing, she's quite the boyish person._  
9\. I love that I am a good cook. She has master the art of boiling instant ramen noodles if that counts.  
10\. I love my strength. _I'm literally a human paper._

A frustrated groan is what Taeyeon ended up letting out after reading more and more answers of people she definitely cannot relate to. What is it so hard to think normally? She bangs her head on the desk a few times. Groaning in pain and pure frustration. All she got was longtime friends and nail painting and she couldn't find a way to link those two things to being a good person.

In her mind, she doesn't understand why Yuri and Jessica bear with her because she hates everything about herself. And does being good at nail paint even have anything to do with being a good or bad person? She could be the most talented person in the world and end up being a shitty ass person.

In the end, she closed the tap that gave her a headache, deciding to order a book or two on the topic of self-love later because she can't relate to how normal people think. She hates herself too much at this point to even think about self-love but she's sure she'll change her mind after a couple of sessions of binge reading.

Moving on.

5\. Write out your apology.

Great. Something she's used to doing and not as hard as self-love. And so, she opens a new word document and cracks her fingers, as if preparing to start writing her daily dose of words, minimum 100 words. But she's not. She's writing an apology. What should she even say? Her fingers start moving automatically.

Dear Tiffany,

I'm so sorry, I'm so difficult.

No no no, backspace everything. She's just making it about herself when it's about Tiffany and how betrayed she feels.

That's it.

Dear Tiffany,

I'm so sorry I kept the room a secret from you. I fully understand that I betrayed your trust and I'm regretting it immensely. I will never keep something like that a secret from you again. Will you please forgive me?

Sounds a bit too formal the more she rereads it. She back spaces again and restarts the apology. If Tiffany was in front of her right now, what would she say? She'll probably get all awkward and mutters a single, "I'm sorry." and maybe ask her what she could do for her to come back.

Dear Tiffany,

I'm sorry. Please come back.

Although it's short and simple, Taeyeon was satisfied with it. That's what she genuinely want to say to Tiffany right now. It would do. Hopefully her feelings would go through to Tiffany.

Feeling satisfied and as fresh as a factory worker at the end of their shift, Taeyeon gets up from her chair and stretches out her stiff muscles. What she needs right now is a hot shower that would help relax her body and mind. A quick one she takes, followed by brushing her teeth while humming a tone that she couldn't recognize and finally back to bed.

Now that she knows what to say and how to sweeten her way to forgiveness, the young confident author closes her tired eyes and finally, to her empty dream land she went. However, it wasn't so empty that night. She dreamt of Tiffany. Sleeping besides her, hugging her tightly like she did in the pool. She doubts that sleeping beauty is as pretty is Tiffany. She really does.

Taeyeon opened her mouth, about to mutter her apology and stuff, but the way the American girl snuggled up to her as if she's a body pillow distracted the young writer from her previous thought. Tiffany's body is so warm, and the way her steady breathing hit her neck made her ticklish. Although the way her leg went over her, literally trapping her in an uncomfortable position really bothered her but she was too engrossed in staring at the American girl to make an effort to move.

If this was real life Taeyeon doesn't think she would be as calm as she is now. Instead of enjoying the cuddling session Tiffany was putting her in, she would probably be sweating bullets out of nervousness. Just the sheer thought of her saying or doing something wrong that would upset Tiffany and make her decide to get away from her made her heart hurt so bad. She didn't want to go through that.

Worst thing was, she finally realized that it wasn't a dream and that she was really staring at Tiffany's sleeping face.


	14. Chapter 14

Tiffany wasn't sure what woke her up. The sudden movement or the yelp Taeyeon let out, but one thing was for sure. It was a big surprise for the young writer to open her eyes from a good night's sleep only to find herself being cuddled by her housemate. Tiffany studied Taeyeon's face carefully. Her eyes looking similar to a Tarsier and her mouth just slightly open. She almost chuckled at the adorable scarce change of expression.

"When did you-...How did you-...Why are you-..." Frustrated with her inability to speak properly, Taeyeon face palmed and sighed. She carefully sat up as to not throw Tiffany off the bed and looked at her in wonder. Face quickly changing back to its normal calm state.

"Good morning sunshine." Tiffany greeted with a smile. She turns so she's laying on her back. Hand going through her hair to make it look somewhat decent.

The young writer's shoulders go down from their previous tense state. Eyes wondering from Tiffany's face to her very exposed cleavage due to the low cut tank top her housemate wears to sleep. It was quite the sight to behold. "M- Morning." she finally greets back, "When did you come back?"

"I don't know. Around two this morning? Sorry for intruding but I couldn't fall asleep alone knowing that that thing is near." Tiffany explained quickly before giving the young writer an apologetic look. "Hope you don't mind. Do you?"

"No. No. Of course not." Taeyeon was quick to deny Tiffany's suspicions. Waving her hands in the air frantically while also shaking her head.

Tiffany's smiled from one that looked like she was just pulling it to be polite, perhaps it looked like that to the young writer because the she just woke up from her sleep, into one in which was flowing with pure happiness, "Great. It's quite cold so won't you cuddle me for a little bit, please?" she musters up her best puppy eyes and juts her lower lip out. Hoping that Taeyeon won't find it uncomfortable to get a little bit more intimate with her.

"Ahhhhh..." Taeyeon stares at not only her housemate, but apparently bedmate now in sheer awkwardness. She had never cuddled with anyone before. Except for those few times she had to share a bed with Yuri and woke up choking in a head lock, if that even counts as cuddling. But this is Tiffany. A woman whose energetic but graceful movements resembled a little sparrow.

But before Taeyeon managed to make a decision, she submitted to Tiffany's own decision of holding her arm and slowly, but surely pulling her down to lay next to her. She could still feel her own heat on the pillow and the sheets. Tiffany covering them up with the blanket again raised the warmth to a much needed degree.

All the tiny girl could do was stay still, stiff as a rock, and watch the American girl's eyes flutter shut again, "Would you do me a favor?" Tiffany asked. Her voice sounding all too husky because of her drowsy state. It sent shivers down Taeyeon's spine just listening to said voice relatively close to her ears.

"Y- Yeah. Sure."

The American girl let out a soft throaty chuckle.

Meanwhile, Taeyeon was cursing herself internally. Her nervous stuttering is back and she really wants to bury herself underground out of embarrassment. She only hoped it wouldn't come off as if she's uncomfortable with being in this situation with Tiffany. Which she is, but not in a bad way.

"Put your arms around me. If you don't mind." Tiffany said, voice getting dangerously low. She shifted her body so the top of her head is right under the young writer's chin. Hands already slipping under Taeyeon arms, right on her small waist and meeting together at the small of her back.

Rather than responding to Tiffany's request, Taeyeon went into a small fit of coughs produced from her own near panic attack state of body and mind. With much hesitation, she obliged. Her hands slid on the silk soft skin of Tiffany's arm and under her head as she shifted a little.

Oddly enough, her heart hammered in her chest loudly, there's no way Tiffany is not hearing it right now. What in the world is going on? She's been physically close to Tiffany before. In the pool, with much less articles of clothing on, even. So why is she reacting in such a bizarre manner to it now?

"Unn...you're so warm." Tiffany let out a sigh of comfort right into Taeyeon's chest.

The ticklish sensation the hot breath produced caused the petite girl to jolt slightly. Eyes blinking in a rapid manner. Breath getting more rigged and rigged by the moment. When she realized what was going on. Taeyeon feared for her life. "I think I'm having a heart attack." she says.

Tiffany giggled loudly. If her hands weren't so busy tracing lines on Taeyeon's back she would be clapping right now. "No, you're not. You're gonna be okay. Just relax."

Relax? If it's trying to relax when her nerves are raging, then Taeyeon have not even once succeeded in calming herself down. It's usually a long process that consists of a lot of frantic moving and playing intense combat games on nightmare mode.

When she finally calms down, her fingers hurt from the intense movement on the controller or keyboard or whatever outlet she used to let her nerves work themselves out. Thankfully that doesn't happen often. Sometimes when she's outside, rarely when she's inside, but it happens. And when it happens. Taeyeon's in trouble.

It's happening right now, and Tiffany's here. Because of her, it's happening. Why?

"Jesus, Tae. We're just cuddling. If you're this nervous with this level of skinship, what are you gonna be like when you have sex?" In Tiffany's point of view, it was just a simple, harmful question said very casually, but to Taeyeon...

After a few seconds of silence, Tiffany frowned when she didn't hear a respond from her newest cuddling buddy. She shifted back and looked up, eyes full of concern for the young writer. To her surprise, Taeyeon had a small smile on her face.

"Sex...you say." She chuckled softly. "Do you think I'll actually have it? Ever?"

Tiffany took a sharp breath in. As Taeyeon looked down so they're eye to eye, although smiling, her eyes weren't into it. As if it came from a place of sarcasm forwarded to herself. It wasn't making fun of Tiffany's words. She already knew the answer herself. She just needed to hear it from someone else.

The answer was so obvious, but Taeyeon was oblivious. So instead of answering, Tiffany smirked and let out a chuckle. As if she were making fun of the petite girl. It's at a time like this that the American girl thanks god for the fact that Taeyeon is so light, because she moved her without even having to hold her breath for a split second.

She watched Taeyeon's face change from a painful smile to a confused slightly pouty face as she pushed her by the shoulder, separating their bodies for a mere second before sitting on the girl's hips. Hands on either sides of the young writer's small body. Leaning down so their faces are close enough to Tiffany's desired degree.

"Shall we find out?"

* * *

...

"Shall we find out?"

"...huh?" Taeyeon let out a nervous chuckle. She could feel sweat forming on her temple but she didn't pay much mind to it at that moment. After all, there was such a beautiful enticing sight right in front of her eyes and she would be a total idiot if she doesn't take advantage of the moment and get a good view of her housemate's exposed cleavage.

"You like what you see?" The American girl asks in a teasing tone. A slay smirk still plastered on her pretty face. Enjoying the attention she sought after but rarely got from the young writer.

"Um." Snapping out of her trance, Taeyeon covered her mouth with her hand and coughed softly, turning to her right only to see a book title on her shelf that she wished she hadn't put there. It was another present from Yuri. Although she hadn't read it yet, she knew exactly what kind of book it was. Night Shift by Joanna Angel. God damn it. It really is not the time to think about it. As it only added more fuel to the fire Tiffany started inside of her.

A fire that she unfortunately is going to have to distinguish herself, because, why let it live on and burn her inside out when there won't be any actual relief? With feelings of embarrassment and disappointment, Taeyeon found herself calmly staring back into Tiffany's eyes. Wondering why the American girl is doing what's she's doing.

"Tiffany, please stop joking." She chuckled, although she didn't find it funny, she was a bit hurt actually, "What are you going to do if I actually take your jokes seriously and reciprocate? It's going to be really uncomfortable for the both of us after that, you know?"

Although not a master at it, Taeyeon always thought of herself as someone who reads people's expressions well because of her high level of social insecurity. But here she is, meeting her housemate's eyes and is feeling quite puzzled. Tiffany wore a poker face on and stared at her silently. It scared her a little bit, but her desire to know what the fashion editor was thinking about.

But before she was able to ask her anything, Tiffany's poker face turned into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She leaned away, so their faces aren't so close anymore. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." she got off Taeyeon and sat on the edge of the bed. Looking down at the cold marble floor. Leaving a subtle awkwardness between them.

No

This is wrong

This is all wrong

Tiffany isn't the one who should be apologizing

It's Taeyeon

She's the one who fucked up

She's the one who spent the last three days drowning in her own feelings of guilt and self-hate because she made Tiffany upset, and she's the one who spent hours past midnight thinking and searching for ways to make a proper apology and fix things. This is not how it should be, and now that Tiffany's back, it's time to make things right.

"Tiffany."

"Hm?" Oblivious of the mental struggle her housemate have went through the last few days, Tiffany turned to Taeyeon with her usual genuine eye smile back on her face. It served as a slight of relief for Taeyeon, but it's not the time to admire the American girl's beauty. There are important things that need to be said and done.

"Look...I'm sorry for not telling you about the...um...the ghost(?) in the room next door. I really thought it wasn't a big deal, and I admit that was pretty short sighted of me...so...please...don't move out." There was an eerie moment of silence that Taeyeon was scared of it being interrupted by words that she might not want to hear.

"Well, as long as you understand. But I didn't even think of moving out."

When Taeyeon looked up, she saw a confused frown on her housemate's face. "You didn't?" she asked. Her tone a notch up out of pure hope for things to go back to normal again. As normal as they could be, at least.

"Are you kidding me? Of course not. Although I'm gonna have to take some extreme measures to cope with that...whatever is in that room. How could I pass on such a lovely house with an even lovelier landlord?" Tiffany said with a smile, giving said landlord a couple of affectionate taps on the cheek. "Will you be upset if I leave?" she asks.

It was a simple question, really. But Taeyeon found herself puzzled as she answered. The answer was as obvious as the sun on a sunny morning. "I will."

The smile the young writer looked back at made her feel like it was worth it. It was so beautiful and radiant that Taeyeon's lips unconsciously mimicked Tiffany's expression. How did she do it? How did Tiffany managed to find her way inside of her head?

It's a mystery that Taeyeon really doesn't care if she ever solved or not. Maybe it's her genuinely. Sincerity. Her positive energy. She really doesn't know. Although Taeyeon thinks of herself as a shallow person, good looks start to affect people less and less as they gets used to looking at someone's face.

It's the same for Taeyeon. It really is. At first she couldn't even face her new housemate. But now she could look at her in the eyes and smile back at her as if she were her friend, which she is. She has become one. Taeyeon never thought she would ever let anyone in her inner circle this easily, but here she is. Even okay with them sleeping on the same bed together.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." Tiffany announces as she finally breaks the rather intimate eye contact. She doesn't look back as she squeezes past the two shelves acting as a gate to Taeyeon's fort. "You should go back to sleep. It's still early. But if you're not. Come join me down stairs for some breakfast, okay?"

Taeyeon nodded more to herself than to Tiffany. As the American girl could even see her. "Okay." she said. She found herself smiling as she got out of bed. Wiping her sweaty palms on her pants. She sat on her revolving chair and moved her mouse across the pad so she could wake her PC up from its sleeping state.

As the screen lit up, Taeyeon saw that the word document she opened in the hollow hours of the morning was still running.

 _Dear Tiffany,_

 _I'm sorry. Please come back._

In the end, she didn't use it. The moment she saw Tiffany's face all the thoughts in her head got jumbled up and she didn't remember what she was supposed to say. All that research and mind storming went for nothing. In a moment when her head couldn't work properly, her heart spoke for her. Taeyeon was never one to put her heart over her mind.

But now she's thinking and feeling like she should be using both.

* * *

...

3:30 AM ~ 4:00 AM.

Taeyeon opens her eyes for the first time that day. The haziness from sleep subsides slowly as she regains consciousness once again to live for yet another day. _What do you say. I didn't die in my sleep today either._ Is the first thing she thinks to herself. Some might say that it's a bit morbid to think such things, but to Taeyeon, it's a fact she likes to confirm every morning. Just as a way to appreciate life a bit more.

Tiffany. Still asleep.

4:00 AM ~ 5:00 AM.

Taeyeon finally gets out of bed. Thinking about taking a shower later if she feels like it. But for now, she just pees, brushes her teeth, then out of the bathroom and right back to her fort she goes. She wakes her PC up from sleep and checks her email. Every few days there's an email from her editor, Sunny. Giving her feedback for the progress she made on the book she's currently writing. Right after she answers it, she opens up her games to claim the daily rewards.

Tiffany. Still asleep.

5:00 AM ~ 7:00 AM

Taeyeon finishes answering Sunny's email and claiming her in-game daily rewards. She opens the same Microsoft word document she opens every day and continues writing where she left off last time, usually the day before. When she's feeling inspired, she would spend the whole day on her computer and possibly reach 10,000 words. On average 1000 to 3000 words a day. When she's not feeling inspired, it's either no progress at all. Or a minimum of 100 words that she would usually delete the next day and start over.

Tiffany. Still Asleep.

7:00 AM ~ 9:00 AM

Taeyeon. If not writing, She moves on to games. It's either a repetitive MMORPG like Elsword so she could think while mindlessly moving her fingers, or go downstairs, to the living room where her PlayStation and big ass TV are. She would play whatever her favorite game at the moment is. She prefers action-adventure games for the same reason.

The sleeping princess in the room upstairs finally wakes up. Her eyes flutter open for a new day and unlike her housemate downstairs, she's not happy to be awake. Tiffany have always hated mornings and she's starting to think that no matter how much sleep she gets she would never ever be comfortable waking up in the morning. She gets up a couple of minutes later and starts her everyday routine.

She freshens up and changes her pajamas to her pink colored workout attire. Hair high up in a ponytail. She walks downstairs in a foul mood. Just moving makes her fingertips ache. She's missing some much needed sleep and her body is not cooperating with her because of it. Then she saw a sight that she missed.

Her housemate and one of her favorite people in the world right now is sitting right there on the couch, head phones on, hands busy coordinating movements on the controlling she's holding. Eyes focused on the huge screen in front of her. Oblivious to anything and everything that could possibly going on behind her which is Tiffany sneaking up on her.

"Boo!"

There was no screaming or yelping or even jumping like Tiffany had anticipated. It was just a slight jolt. The gamer's muscles tensed up for a half a second before they went back to normal and that was it for the jump scare. Instead of a terrified face, Tiffany sighed when her housemate turned around with a smile on her face. Mysteriously giggling.

"What? Don't you even get scared? Are you made of steel or something?" Tiffany says to the giggling girl who's in the middle of lowering her headphones.

"Flesh actually." she smirks, "I played too many horror games filled with cliche jump scares for this to actually get a reaction out of me. Try again later."

"Damn it." Tiffany rolls her eyes and lets out a chuckle of her own. She looks back at Taeyeon's face and realizes yet again how lucky she is to have the young writer as her landlord/housemate/friend for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason at this specific moment is because she's such an eye candy. Such a cutie to look at early in the morning is never a bad thing. With these kind of thoughts in her mind, Tiffany's smile widens and she says, "Good morning, Taeyeon."

Taeyeon smiles back just as wide. "Good morning, Tiffany. How did you sleep last night?"

She just had to ask didn't she. If this was someone else, Tiffany would think that they're trying to rub the fact that she's a scaredy cat in her face, but this isn't someone else. This is Taeyeon. And Taeyeon is the most genuine person Tiffany knows. She probably really wants to know if she had slept well or not out of pure concern.

In response, she sighs, "Not very well." and that's the understatement of the century. Although she just came back yesterday, she's considering leaving again until something is done about the room. Last night she did overtime, so she came back late from work only to find that Taeyeon was already asleep. Not wanting to risk waking her up, she decided to just sleep in her own room for the night.

It wasn't easy to fall asleep. First, she hesitated to even go inside her room. Because the urge to look at the haunted room's door overwhelmed her and she did end up looking. _I'm sure something happens when I'm not looking_ \- she thought to herself and ended up looking back quickly after every single step she made. Mind filled with fear induced irrational thoughts of being attacked by a demon from behind even though nothing actually happened.

Then she entered her room and more irrational thoughts started seeping in. _The ghost is behind me when I'm not looking._ _Things move when I'm not looking. The room would just be filled with ghosts and demons the moment I turn off the light and I won't be even able to see it so I can defend myself in case something attacks me._ Nothing of the sorts ever actually happened to her, but the fear in her heart won over the rationality in her head and turned it against her.

It was as if she was a child again. Things like the monsters under the bed and the bogeyman in the closet became all too real to her again. If demons or ghosts or whatever haunting that room actually really exist since she saw the door knob move on its on, then maybe all the things adults scare their children with have a real origin. Maybe they're real!

Just opening her closet was a challenge last night. It took a lot of courage to do it and Tiffany is proud of herself for doing it. Then she had to turn the lights off before she got to bed and that was really scary too. She thought about using her phone as light, but was too scared to see a glimpse of something she doesn't want to see and end up freaking out in the darkness.

She literally ran from where the light switch was located near the bedroom door to her bed way further inside the big room. Even when she got to her bed, she wasn't relieved at all, in fact, the irrational fear seemed to increase by the second. Once her head hit the pillow she struggled to quickly cover her self with the blanket, afraid that something would get to her. She even made sure her feet aren't sticking outside of the blanket. She covered herself completely and shivered in fear for a solid hour just trying to calm herself down and get some sleep.

Unfortunately, the adrenaline had excited her body too much and she felt way too charged to fall asleep right away. After hours of useless fighting with her own irrationality, she ended up getting a hold of her phone and just scrolling through social media until she forgot why she was on her phone in the first place. She hadn't actually fallen asleep until 2 in the morning.

So the answer to Taeyeon's question, how did yo sleep last night, shouldn't have been not very well. It's should have been terribly awful.

Moving on. Tiffany tries to put memories of last night aside and went out for her jog.

Taeyeon continues mindlessly playing Assassin's Creed while her brain was busy burning cells just trying to understand things in life. Like putting a puzzle together. Her biggest concern is Tiffany at the moment. What should she do to make Tiffany comfortable in her own home again? was the biggest question the young writer has been searching for answers to.

Meanwhile, Tiffany is jogging around the block. Her own mind busy with the same question in her housemate's head, only difference is, her head is starting to clear up because of the light 30 minutes work out she's doing at the moment, and when she goes back home, the sweat she broke thankfully helped elevate her mood.

A cold shower while singing her favorite songs helped even further and the healthy breakfast she made for herself and Taeyeon made her golden again. By the time they were done eating. She was full out singing. "Think Twice~ I don't pretend to play nice like others~ Don't flatter yourself~ I smile easily because it does me good~"

On the receiving end of the singing, Taeyeon who's innocently washing the dishes paid attention to the lyrics and looked at Tiffany in confusion. The thought of them speaking Tiffany's truth scaring her a little. And a little part of her is wondering if they're directed at her or not. Should she not flatter herself for getting Tiffany's attention?

"You don't know yet~ But if you want, go ahead and test me~ You're too predictable~ If you wanted something easy~ Oh wait til' I do what I do~ Hit you with that ddu-du ddu-du du!"

Taeyeon confirmed that she's overthinking it when Tiffany playfully tapped her nose while saying ddu-du. She can't be serious. In response, Taeyeon shook her head while chuckling as she resumed washing the dishes. Secretly really loving Tiffany's endearing affectionate gesture towards her. No one have ever been this touchy feely with her.

Speaking of touchy feely...

"I need to go to work now or I will be late." Tiffany said, voice full of urgency. Although it apparently wasn't urgent enough because she still found time to give Taeyeon a squeeze, as in a back hug before leaving, "Okay, see you soon. Bye, boo." and she even gave her housemate two pecks on the cheek before literally skipping out of the house while still humming.

Coughing due to embarrassment, Taeyeon partially turned around and watched her housemate happily(?) leave for work. Yet again, Taeyeon finds herself fascinated with Tiffany's positive energy. Since she woke up, the young writer has realized that she almost never stopped smiling. Although it got a bit too much for her at some points. No one has ever been this physically affectionate with her before.

The closest to Tiffany's level is Jessica. She pats her head sometimes which Taeyeon in her right mind would never let her continue doing it for more than a second. She finds it a bit insulting, although she knows her best friend means nothing even close to that mentality. Then there's Yuri who she gets into physical fights with sometimes over pity things because the tall girl could get annoying as hell sometimes.

And now here's Tiffany with her hugs and kisses and cuddles and Taeyeon is overwhelmed. What reaction she should give is a mystery to her. She should hug back, that's one thing she knows for sure. Although the nervousness tends to get to her which leads her to just stiffen up.

The kisses mess up her breath and blood flow as her whole face including ears turns red and she starts coughing without feeling a tickle in her throat. The cuddles are just on a whole other level that Taeyeon's sure she's not yet ready for, that's for sure.

But, she doesn't want it to stop, she realizes.

All her life, Taeyeon have lived with a gaping hole in her chest. A feeling of emptiness that originates from her chest and extends to her stomach and throat. A void that can't be filled, if you may say. It's not a literal hole. Just a hypothetical one that feels a bit too real to ignore.

On bad days, the hole expands and the pain it induces increases. When she's outside or is standing in front of an open window, Taeyeon would swear to everything holy that the pain actually increases when the wind blows. She could feel the cold harsh wind going through said hypothetical hole and hurting her wellbeing. On good days, the hole is still there, but is momentarily covered by something that she just can't seem to put her finger on.

Now, that her friendship level with Tiffany has increased, she thinks of it like that as if she were playing a dating simulation without the actual dating, she could still feel the hole. However, whenever she's on the receiving side of Tiffany's random bursts of affectionate and loving energy, the hole slowly but surely fills up. Although it's in pretty little quantities, the hole is being filled up.

And now Taeyeon thinks that maybe all she needs is love.

9:00 AM ~ 1:00 PM

Taeyeon, goes back up to her fort and lays on her comfy bed. Her back aching from sitting forward and hunching for an extended period of time while playing games. Her eyes are burning and probably red from keeping them open for an extended period of time while playing games. She loves just laying on her bed and closing her eyes. Just relaxing and not doing anything.

That's how her body is, but her mind is far from relaxed. In fact, it's never relaxed. It's always thinking. Like a hyper machine that's missing the off button. No moment of silence is allowed without being filled with her own invading thoughts. She loves silence, she really does. If only her brain would understand and shut the hell up for a few minutes. That would be much appreciated, but nope. What ifs and Hows and Whys seem to like destroying her moments of relaxation.

In which after 30 minutes to an hour of trying to relax but failing, Taeyeon sits up and starts skirmishing through her room. Her book collection is her precious tressure. Every book she have ever read exists in this room(and the haunted room) and books she had yet to read are calling her name urgently as if she didn't read them as soon as possible they would disappear.

Which isn't true and it's all in her imagination, but it feels real and Taeyeon promised herself to go with her feelings when her brain refuses to cooperate. It would at least save her from glitching like a broken robot, as in stuttering as if it was an actual issue she had to deal with.

What to read? It's been a while since she read anything but mystery or horror fiction. She's in the mood for something different. A lighter read. Something light hearted that would make her feel good. There really didn't need to be much thinking about it. Her feet carried her to the right shelf and her hands gently slipping the books she desired to read out of the tight fitted books.

As silly as it seems, Dr. Seuss never failed to make her beam. That being said, Fox in socks was definitely one book that made her happy and happiness is good. She sat on her bed, holding a book she already read. She made a happy expression, getting ready for her reading session. She opened the old book and retreated further into a small nook.

Tiffany, on the other hand, went to a meeting, where she and other writers and editors pitched ideas for the new issue of the magazine to the lead editor. After that she went back to her desk to complete an assignment the head editor-in-chief gave her. She loves her job a lot and she thanks whichever higher power up there that relieved her from being poor and broke and drowning of debt and blessed her with such a wonderful life.

Then it was time for lunch break. She met up with some friends who also work near by and went out for lunch. She had fun.

1:00 PM ~ 5:00 PM

Taeyeon continues reading her Dr. Seuss books that she hadn't opened in probably a couple of years now. Children books or not, these books bought her joy. It's not a real quote but a the essence of one of the books Dr. Seuss wrote, but when Taeyeon first read it somewhere on the internet, it changed her life completely. "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

She finished reading her favorite Dr. Seuss books, but was still in the mood to read, so another book she took out of her shelf. It wasn't long after did her eyes start shutting down on their own, however. In the end, she covered her face with the book so she won't have to get up to turn off the lights, then fell into dreamless sleep rather quickly.

Tiffany, on the other hand, just got another assignment from the head editor in chief. She's not upset about it, just not thrilled either. Over time it is.

5:00 PM ~ 7:00 PM

Taeyeon just woke up from her nap. Her body aching from sleeping under the light. She puts a bookmark on the page she last read inside her book and places it on her desk. She still feels a bit iffy from napping too hard, so getting some fresh air outside doesn't seem like such a bad idea. She walks out to the backyard. The pool water making tiny waves from the slow wind. She takes a seat on the swinging bench hanging off a tree.

The orange dusky sky looks like some kind of cocktail that Yuri would drink everyday for breakfast. Taeyeon doesn't like to admit it to herself, but she kind of misses the tall tanned girl. It's been a minute since she saw her. It hurts her ego a little since Yuri takes pride in their friendship and would shamelessly brag about her to her face and Taeyeon was never good at taking compliments. In reality she really loves the tanned girl and appreciates her but it's really hard to show love when the other person full on attacks with huge flying hearts. And she's annoying. That too.

Meanwhile, Tiffany. Still working.

7:00 PM ~ 1:00 AM

Tiffany comes home to en empty living room and an equally empty fort. Confused by what she thinks is an empty house, before even putting her bag down, she takes out her phone to call her apparently missing housemate. She hears an iPhone ringing. She looks right and left, walking around the house. Where?

"Hello." Taeyeon's voice rings in her ear when she picks up.

"Um...hey, Tae. Where did you go?" Tiffany asks with a worrisome tone. The ringing stopped as Taeyeon picked up but she can't hear the girl now.

"...no...where? I'm home." Taeyeon says after a moment of confused filled silence.

"Where?" Tiffany asks in surprise but quickly changed moods when she spotted Taeyeon waving at her in the backyard through the glass door. She chuckled and hung up. She dropped her bag on the floor and walked to where her housemate is sitting. It's a little hot outside when she opens the door. She didn't think twice before sitting next to Taeyeon and leaning on her shoulder.

The swing moved back and forth due to the added weight.

"Hey." Taeyeon greets first when she doesn't hear anything from Tiffany. She leans down a little to look at her housemate's face. Her eyes are closed. Mouth slightly open. The red lipstick looks really good on her full lips. Tiffany sure has some pretty looking lips, Taeyeon notices.

"Hi." Tiffany mutters.

She's tired. Taeyeon also notices. She's completely slumped down on her shoulder at this point. Burned out from a long day of work and so little sleep that she could cry right there and then. Seeing that, Taeyeon clears her throat lightly, "How was work?" she asks.

"It was okay. Had to do overtime today too. " she sighs and hugs Taeyeon's arm just tight enough not to hurt the petite girl, "Give me energy, oh great angel, Taeyeon-ssi." she says playfully.

Taeyeon chuckles, "That would be 20 gems."

"Aw come on. Give me some for free."

"You're gonna have to watch an unskippable 1:30 long ad for that."

"Damn it, Tae!" Tiffany hits the young writer on the arm playfully causing the shorty to burst into giggles. "Can I at least get a hug for free?"

Taeyeon's heart skips a beat. Her eyes staring into the water of the pool, wondering if she should hug Tiffany or just jump in and drown. Is what she would usually think at a time like this, but not this time. Instead, she smiles more to herself than to her housemate and wraps her arms around the burned out girl in a tight embrace.

It feels good to be embraced, but embracing someone else also feels good. Maybe it's something about having someone so close to you that feels good. Taeyeon couldn't really put her finger on it. So she made a mental note to research it later. Her heart feels light. Actually, her whole body feels light despite the weight Tiffany is putting on her.

For now, she's really enjoying this physical contact with Tiffany and she's hoping the other girl feels the same way. She looks down, just to check on her housemate's well-being. She still has her eyes closed. Lips curved in a serene and pleased smile that Taeyeon was positive would never see something more beautiful than that for the rest of her life.

"Thank you. Taeyeon-ah." Tiffany mutters in a low voice, but Taeyeon still heard it.

The young writer gave her housemate a much appreciated squeeze, "You're always welcome." she says.

It was a very long hug, but neither of them complained. They were almost laying down, with Tiffany's arms around Taeyeon's thin torso and Taeyeon's own around Tiffany's upper waist. Minutes were passing by and neither of them made a move to break the tight hug. Until...

"A psychic is coming over this weekend to check out the haunted room."

"What?" Taeyeon sits up immediately, a frown on her face.

Tiffany looks up at her and smiles, "A psychic is coming over this weekend to check out the haunted room. You don't mind, do you?"

"I don't, but..."

"But what?" Tiffany pouts, faking sadness, fully knowing that her looks work on her housemate like a charm.

"But what will a psychic do?"

Tiffany shrugs, "Check it out. Find out what we're really dealing with. Maybe exorcise it if needed."

Taeyeon doesn't say anything. She just stares at Tiffany with her mouth slightly open, just blinking

Tiffany shakes her head, "Thoughts?

"...that's...kind of...crazy."

At first Tiffany was confused, then she let out a throaty laugh, "Now you think it's crazy? You have been living with a demon for over 3 years and now you think it's crazy?"

Taeyeon squints, thinking of how actually crazy the things she experienced were. At some point, she saw so much of it that Imagination and reality started blending in together. So she decided to just brush it off as her imagination doing things just so she won't live in fear in her own home.

Clearly Tiffany doesn't have the same mindset as her. Taeyeon have figured her out already. Being the diligent person that she is, she has to have all aspects of her life up to perfection. When a problem occurs, she rushes in to try to fix it. Although she doesn't always does it right, which end up in her failing and getting upset. Which is what Taeyeon thinks is going to happen.

A ghost is a problem for Tiffany. Bringing a psychic is one way to solve this problem. If failed, Tiffany will get very frustrated but noway she's giving up. If succeeded, Taeyeon is gonna have to prepare herself for lectures about how she should have tried to solve this problem from the beginning. Despite it not being a problem for her. There's bound to be a disagreement between them soon, Taeyeon just knows it.

"Yeah, it's crazy." She admits, a knowing smile on her face, "I don't mind crazy."

"Not minding crazy is one thing, and letting a ghost live with you is another!" Tiffany scolds, getting up. Not pleased with Taeyeon's attitude towards something that really bothers her. She sighs, "Never mind. Let's order food. I'm hungry."

Taeyeon smiled to herself as she watches her tired housemate walk back inside the house. Tiffany got upset just as she predictable. She has a big ego after all. It hurts her when someone doesn't agree with her. Although the young writer acknowledges that her housemate is indeed right in this situation. It's just that she doesn't care enough to do something about it. If a problem could be ignored, she's going to ignore it.

That's what she's used to.

That's what she knows.

That's how she grew up.

After that little disagreement. Tiffany orders food. The two of them eat in silence at first, then Tiffany opens a conversation about ghosts since that's all what seems to be on her mind these past couple of days. Taeyeon participates by telling the younger girl the things she read online and stories people posted. They casually talk over the meal. Taeyeon cleans up after while Tiffany goes back to her room to start her beauty night routine. A mask and lotions and what not.

Taeyeon plays video games in the living room while Tiffany is reading a book next to her.

By 10 PM, Tiffany says goodnight. Hoping to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Sleep schedule as hectic as usual. Ruined by taking naps at odd times and staying up over her own capability, Taeyeon goes to bed at 1 AM.

With that, the house finally falls completely quiet.

Good night.


	15. Chapter 15

The weekend has come. Tiffany didn't get up until noon. Schedule momentarily ruined because of the sleep she missed all week. Taeyeon only slept that same morning and probably won't be awake until late that afternoon, Tiffany figured when she peeked inside her housemate's fort and found her sound asleep under her minion print blanket.

Messing up her routine makes Tiffany start feeling anxious. There is always a routine that she needs to follow. Steps she needs to take. Other wise, it's either change her routine to something that suits her circumstances better or live on edge. That's how severe her fear of breaking routine is. She gets so anxious as if she was standing on a glass floor and she could see her doom under her feet. A fall she will undeniably plummet into. Or so she thinks.

Routine can't be broken. Or else things will definitely go wrong.

The American girl is conscious of her own feelings. It's not even just a feeling anymore, it's also a thought. Why does she think and feel that way, she doesn't know. But for now, the actions induced by those feelings and thoughts are helping her career and life in general, so she tries not to think about it. However, this whole week had been a mess. Because of her messed up sleep schedule she's been so out of her routine that she woke up today not knowing what to do.

Usually, she would already have a plan to spend her Saturday and Sunday productively. If not for distressing, it would go to furthering up her knowledge and activating the left side of her brain, as the right side gets the chance to be activated during work.

Most weekends, she likes the progress of dolling up and looking even more beautiful than she already is. Go to a club with a bunch of her friends and move her body with the rhythm of the music with a drink in hand.

However, the older she grows, the more she finds herself loving staying in, putting on a skin care mask, some music in the background, and relax on the couch. Reading, or watching some mainstream tv show or movie on her laptop.

Today is different.

It is the weekend, but she's clueless regarding how to spend it. She's woke up late, hadn't jogged, hadn't eaten anything, not breakfast nor lunch. The only thing that's going right today is the text she received from the psychic she contacted a few days ago confirming that she would be coming over this evening to check on the haunted room as they have discussed.

That's it.

Now she has to think about what she's supposed to do on such short notice. First she needs a shower. That's for sure. Last night she got back home too exhausted, she ended up going to sleep right after she came back home after doing overtime. Barely even muttering a single hi to Taeyeon who watched her walk in the house like a zombie with her stoic-forever face.

Feeling a bit lost and puzzled, Tiffany hopped in the shower and took her sweet time washing the sleepiness away from her body and massaging her scalp with the shampoo never felt better. She even indulged in the expensive shower gel she invested in a few weeks ago but never used. It smelled like strawberries and she loved it.

After being done with the shower, she went back to her room and sat on her sofa, enjoying the cool air coming in from the window and cooling her hot body up. The wind wasn't hot nor cold. Blowing just strong enough to cause the curtains to flutter ever so lightly. The sun light coming in, hitting the floor and lighting up the whole room made Tiffany feel just grateful to live in a house like this.

Her whole childhood she spent it poor. Not young Kim Taeyeon poor, but poor nonetheless. Her Dad had a business. It made him some profit but it was too little to be worth the time he invested in it and the hardships he had to go through in order to keep going. She lived in a house before, yes. It was a one floor, two bedroom, one bathroom and a kitchen house.

It wasn't run down per say, but as a child, she was embarrassed to bring her friends from school over because the paint was breaking off the wall and they couldn't afford to repair it. She remembers her mother doing her best to maintain the bathroom's cleanliness, but the house wasn't new, and even at its best state, she still heard her parents complain about something off about it every day.

As long back as she remembers, she was woken up everyday for school by her mother who made her and her father breakfast. Her dad inhales his meal, hurrying her up in the progress so he could take her to the bus stop to wait for the bus with the rest of her peers. Barely even looking at her as he says good bye after dropping her off.

Tiffany had a lot of friends as a child, that plus school managed to distract her from the financial problems at home just enough not to scar her, but she knew they were never that well off.

And then it happened.

The sudden change of routine. From the gradually digressing health of her mother to how little she saw her father.

The first time the routine changed, Tiffany woke up one morning to her mother still in bed and her father already gone. She hadn't seen her parents together in the morning since. She started doing the house hold chores in place of her bed ridden mother.

The second time the routine changed, Tiffany came back home from school to an empty house. The next day her father took her to the hospital to see her mother. Her mother hadn't been home since. She would go straight to the hospital after school everyday, a two hour long bus ride. She studies during it and does her homework by her mother's bedside.

It was during that time Tiffany over heard a certain conversation between her parents. She had just arrived to the hospital to see her mother. Her father just happened to find sometime to see her. Young Tiffany couldn't help it but stop in her track when she saw her Dad's broad back facing her and stood there quietly instead of calling out to him.

"All of this will be over soon, my love. Then it will be all you. I need you to promise me, promise me that you'll be good to our daughter, and promise me that you will be a father to her. Not just her financial support."

At that point, Tiffany had never seen her father cry, but she just knew, even though she couldn't see the tears on his face. She just knew. From the raged pace of his breathing, to the quiver in his voice, to the shaking in his frame as he held the love of his life in his arms. She knew her strong dependable dad is crying as he said, "I promise."

Young Tiffany couldn't help it. Seeing tears in both her parents eyes. Her own were spilling hot salty droplets of their own. She ran in that room, surprising both of her parents. That afternoon, all three of them ended up crying together in that small hospital room. Holding on to each other and basking the joy of being having the three of them together for the first time in a long time and probably one of the last times.

The third time the routine changed. That was it. Tiffany's mother said good bye, closed her eyes, and took her last breath alive. And all Tiffany could do was stand in front of her grave and weep. The strong hold of her father's hand as he stood beside her with a tears stained face affirmed to her young mind that this was all real. That her mother was really gone and they would never see her or hear her voice again.

Since that day, there was a certain emptiness inside of her. Life felt like it would never go on. There was a certain emptiness inside of her. It was the loneliness of not having someone who loves her as much as her mother did. Her heart ripped apart, shredded to pieces as she spent the next months grieving.

That was for sure the single life changing event that certainly bought out emotions from within Tiffany that she never experienced before. Emotions that she's sure her mother would never want her to have. Along with the crippling sadness came anger and frustration. That's when she started having mood swings. From having peace with her mother's death to feeling as if someone is holding her heart and squeezing it until it bleeds.

It was hard to say the least.

What frustrated her the most was that her Dad started going back to work only a day after the tragedy as if he wasn't affected at all. Tiffany knows that's not true. She saw him cry on his wife's death bed and standing near her grave. She saw him crying in the kitchen alone at night. She knew he's just trying to seem strong in front of her, but she couldn't help it but hold a grudge against him for leaving her alone.

The promise he made with her mother was never kept. He was so thirsty for success that he was willing to not see his daughter at all. He worked every single day from dawn to midnight. Tiffany was sure he didn't sleep for longer than 4 hours. That went on every single day for a year. It was the hardest year of Tiffany's life so far. She was drowning in crippling loneliness and sadness and there was no body by her said to make her feel better. For an 11 y.o, there was no way she would figure out how to deal with said emotions. She just felt bad and that was it. There was no way to ease the ache.

What happened was, she got used to it. The pain of losing her mother never actually went away. She just got used to it and learned to live with it over time. Before she knew it the new school semester started, and she had to go back to studying again. She's back to school and her dad is back to work and life went on. Just like that. As if nothing happened.

Tiffany learned a precious lesson at that time. When life stops for someone, it goes on normally for the rest of the world. It never stops. Tiffany didn't like that. It felt as if her mother had contributed absolutely nothing to this earth and that was no pleasant thought to have. Tiffany knew that was not true, after all, she did make her Dad the happiest man in the world and without her, there would be no Tiffany.

It was a pretty morbid thought but, dying and not being remembered. Not like she will ever forget her mother. But, when she dies, her memories will die with her. Her dad will die. Her friends will die. She will die. Her kids if they ever exist will die. Their kids will die and then nobody would be left to remember her name. Nobody would know who Tiffany Hwang was.

She was at such a young age whens he started questioning the meaning of life. A question that every single human being is in search for. Searching for the purpose of their existence. Until this day, Tiffany is still searching. Although that question did throw her into such a dark hole in quite the bad timing at the wrong age, Tiffany is thankful, because if she didn't ask herself that question early on in her life, she gets the feeling that she would have never grew up to be the person she is today.

It helped her realize that it's true that one day she'll die and no body will remember her, then deal with that thought. Now she's just living for herself. Her own happiness. That is her purpose. To live this short life to it's fullest and do what makes her happy. If following her dreams and being successful is one way to happiness then she will do it despite what anybody thought of it. And so she did.

Hence why she's joyfully happy now.

The cold breeze coming through the window forced her awake. Her eyes moved right and left, momentarily confused by her state. Her shoulders shivered on their own every time the wind came through the window. The orange and pink colors that painted the sky outside signaled that it's already dusk. When she realized that she fell asleep in a towel, she clenched on it and quickly proceeded to turn on the light to make herself look presentable.

The psychic is coming over any minute now and she sure hopes that Taeyeon is awake. If not, she's gonna have to wake her up because she's not going through this by herself. When she opened the door of her room, she saw that Taeyeon's door was open, the light of the hallway seeping in to the darkness. She couldn't help it but glance at the door that's been stealing sleep from her eyes lately and glare at it.

It didn't last long. Heart momentarily quickening. She made a right turn to the staircase, from the railing, she could see that the couch in the living room is occupied by not just Taeyeon, but also Yuri and Jessica. Taeyeon and Yuri were animately arguing while playing a video game that Jessica couldn't care less about. She just sat quietly, legs resting on her girlfriend's lap, and eyes focused on her phone.

Perfect timing.


	16. Chapter 16

"No! No! No! Taeyeon, no! Noooooooo!"

"K.O"

"You Win."

In not even half a second, Taeyeon found herself being thrown off of her butt and on the floor she landed. She looked up at Yuri wide eyed, "Yah!" she yelled. The small quantity of furniture and the vastness of the living room caused her voice to echo loudly. It was only when she saw Tiffany standing at the end of the staircase, looking at her in amusement, did she regret raising her voice the way she did. She felt a little embarrassed but quickly picked herself off the floor nonetheless.

"Relax, both of you. It's just a video game." Jessica said. Not caring enough to even look up from her phone.

"But babe! -... oh hey Tiff!" Yuri clashed with her girlfriend childishly, but before she could present her argument, she spotted Tiffany.

Jessica spared her best friend a glance and smile, "Hey."

After getting a flash back of sad memories, waking up to such a lively atmosphere is exactly what Tiffany needed, "Hey. When did you come?"

"Not even 30 minutes ago." Jessica was the one to answer. Yuri busy already dragging Taeyeon to play one more round of Tekken 7. A round she have set herself up to lose by challenging Taeyeon in the first place.

"This isn't fair. I swear to god, this isn't fair at all! Taeng, stop!" Yuri exclaimed as she found herself yet again, losing.

Tiffany scoffed at the sight and approached the couch, a bottle of water in hand. She leaned down on the back edge of the couch. Quietly spectating the obviously one sided match in her housemate's favor. A few seconds pass and she found herself making eye contact with her blonde friend. "What's up?" she asks.

Jessica simply says,"It's not like you to nap in the afternoon."

Tiffany sighs and rolls her eyes, "Yeah? Well, it's not like me to do a lot of things I have been doing recently." when she looked back at her friend, she found her frowning at her in either suspicion or concern.

"You don't say. Is everything okay?"

Most things were okay. Not everything. But the things Tiffany thought weren't okay, she could fix herself. So it wasn't worth talking about. Is her current mindset.

"I'm okay." Tiffany gave an awkward smile, lips turning to a thin line, eyes anywhere but on the blonde, and nodded. "Just need some down time."

A hot minute passed with Jessica just staring at her in silence. Emotionless. Tiffany knew that look. The blonde doesn't believe her and she's speculating which is the best response to give. However, Jessica doesn't get to the part where she gets to open her mouth and speak her mind out. Because the sound of the door bell interrupted her.

"Are you expecting someone?" Yuri asks, eyes not leaving the screen.

"Yup." Tiffany nods, already walking up to the little monitor at the wall to see if it's indeed who she's expecting. "It's a psychic. She's going to check out the haunted room upstairs, so...try no to act possessed like you always are, okay?" she shot Yuri a certain look before leaving through the door to greet their psychic.

"Hold on, wait a minute, wait a minute." Yuri stopped moving her fingers and let the controller hang loose from her hand, not even caring that she's losing anymore, "Psychic? Haunted room? What is she on about?"

"Oh...ahhh...there's a ghost in the room next to mine."

Jessica looked at their short friend with her forehead almost cracking from how hard she's frowning. "Since when?"

"Since...ever? I don't know." Taeyeon answered her friend's question nervously. She completely forgot that somebody who's allegedly able to get rid of said ghost is coming over today and now her anxiety is sky rocketing. Her friends' questioning weren't helping.

"Is this for real? what the fuck." Yuri asked in a panicked tone.

"Yeah...?"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jessica snapped, not as aggressively as Taeyeon thought she would.

"Umm...a psychic is coming over." the sweat forming on Taeyeon's body was a sign that she's getting more nervous by the second. While she's answering her friend's questions, her eyes are glued to the open front door, waiting for Tiffany and the stranger she's definitely not ready to greet to come in.

"Not that! Why didn't you say anything about this house being haunted?" Yuri was next to snap. More aggressively than Taeyeon thought she would. "Taeng, what the fuck."

"Must have forgotten." Taeyeon said in a low voice, the moment she heard the sound of Tiffany and somebody else approaching closer and closer to the door, she slowly got up, walked a couple of steps backwards before completely turning around. The sound of her heartbeat overpowering what ever either of her friends were saying to her. Her footsteps as she took the stairs were quick, as her legs were full of adrenalin. It wasn't quite the run, but she was panting heavily by the time she manged to get inside her room and close the door behind her.

Taeyeon was officially in a state of panic. Instead of sitting or laying down to try and calm down. Taeyeon paced around what small space in her room to walk in. The shakiness of her hands and the heat centering in her legs, rendering them feeling like jello as she tried to keep herself together, plus her ragged breathing made her want to get physical. Maybe punch something. Kick something, or even work out.

This is bad. - she thought. She promised Tiffany to be there when the psychic comes around. Answer questions and what not. But here she is, anxious as fuck. Her eyes seeing mostly black and a tunnel of poorly received vision due to the lack of glasses or contacts. She doesn't want to break her promise. She definitely wasn't. But at this rate. She might pass out before that happens.

Calm down. Calm the hell down. What on earth is wrong with you? - she repeated to herself. Scolding herself clearly wasn't working either. She glanced to the door every few seconds. Scared shitless of it opening any moment, with one of the three of her friends asking her to join them in their rendezvous with that...stranger. And all she could think about is how she's just gonna fuck up everything starting from greetings to answering a yes or no question and how embarrassed she's gonna get and how embarrassing it is for her friends to even be friends with someone who can't even say hi properly.

And then it came.

The knock.

...

* * *

"Tae? Are you here?" It was Tiffany, sticking her head from behind the door. A small cautious smile on her face. It quickly turned to a frown when she saw the distress on her housemate's whole demeanor. "Everything's okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. E- E- E- E- Everything's fine." Taeyeon says with a hand on the wall to lean on, fidgeting and breathing heavily.

From that interaction alone, Tiffany could tell that there is something very wrong going on here, and Taeyeon didn't seem like she herself knew what's going on. Slowly and as quietly as possible, she stepped inside the mini fort and closed the door behind her. She approached her housemate, slowly raising her hand so Taeyeon could see it coming as she put it on her shoulder and started rubbing it with her thumb.

"Tae...You're having a panic attack."

When she heard that, Taeyeon realized that that's exactly what she's experiencing at the moment. It's been a long time since she's had one. It wasn't that she forgot what it feels like. It was the fact that it came so unexpectedly that she didn't put it as the first option within the possibilities of what might be happening to her. Once it completely sank it, she nodded her head frantically. Unable to stay still, "Yeah yeah I think that's exactly what's going on yeah." she said quickly. The need to get the words out of her mouth as soon as possible making her sentence hard to catch.

Tiffany nodded slowly, letting go of Taeyeon's shoulder when she saw the increase in the speed of fidgeting. From rubbing her hands together to lightly punching the front of her thighs to punching the wall with the side of her fist. Tiffany thought that last one definitely must be hurting her housemate. "Breathe slowly." she said quietly.

"I can't." It was a miracle that she was able to hear Tiffany's voice over the sound of her heart going wild, but she did, and it seemed to her that her housemate was asking for the impossible. Just a minute ago she was at zero and now she's at a full hundred. Between feeling faint and feeling like she's going to die any moment, the need to just throw up and put an end to the nausea overwhelmed her. There was a certain lightness in her stomach as it lurched. It felt like she was stuck at the top of a pirate ship ride at an amusement park. As if it's dropping but it never reaches the other side.

"Taeyeon..."

Meanwhile, Taeyeon couldn't control a single limp on her body, as if her soul was kicked out of her body and looking back at herself, wondering what the hell she's doing as her body switched to autopilot. There is somewhat of a scream at the base of her throat, but it's stuck there. Only coming out in the sound of pathetic whimpers. Overwhelmed by feeling everything and nothing at the same time, Taeyeon would love nothing more than to jump out of her skin so she won't have to feel this way anymore.

"It's alright."

She hears a familiar soft voice say.

"You're gonna be fine."

"It will pass."

"This will pass."

"Breathe slowly..."

"Follow my pace."

"In..."

"Out..."

"In..."

"Out..."

"In..."

"Out..."

"In..."

"Out..."

"In..."

"Out..."

"I'm going to count now."

"Focus on my voice."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

"Four..."

"Five..."

"Six..."

"Seven..."

"Eight..."

"Nine..."

"Ten..."

"Breathe in..."

"Breathe out..."

It finally came to an end. The young author opened her eyes again, focusing on the gentle ones looking back at her. "It's fine. You're doing just fine." it was Tiffany. She forgot that she had came into her room earlier.

As she completely came back to her senses, Taeyeon realized that she was sitting on her revolving chair, Tiffany standing in front of her on her knees. Leaning close to her so she could caress her cheek. It did bring quite the comfort for Taeyeon, but the embarrassment of what just went down overtook it. So she shied away from the touch, avoiding eye contact for the time being.

"I- I'm fine now." she muttered.

"I know you are." Tiffany responded. Standing up. "Take a break, Tae. If you feel like it, join us. You don't have to show up if you don't want to, alright?"

Taeyeon snapped and looked at her housemate, "But, I promised..."

Tiffany smiled and shook her head, "I completely understand. Don't worry about it."

Before she knew it, her housemate was giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. Giggling as she wiped what was probably lipstick off of it after she pulled away.

"I will see you later." she said, turning around.

The moment the door closed, Taeyeon's stiff shoulders went down and she let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She unconsciously smiled as she touched the place on her cheek where Tiffany kissed her. She feels a certain lightness in her stomach. A lightness that is quite different from the one she experienced earlier.

While the earlier one she would compare to a scary amusement park ride, this one felt pleasant. Like a glass filled to the very brim and it's just about to overflow. The more she thought of Tiffany the more it threatened to overflow. What will happen when it overflows? Taeyeon wonders. But she's sure whatever it's filled with is very pink in color just like how Tiffany likes it.

The young author sat there, throwing her head back to relax a bit more, waiting for the sweat she shed to completely dry up. What just happened? she asked herself. A stranger was about to come in her house and she couldn't stand the thought of being social with said stranger, so she went into panic attack mode. That's one hell of a way to avoid fulfilling your promises, she thought, sucking her teeth bitterly.

Although pretty disappointed with herself, now that she's back to her usual calm and collected state of being, Taeyeon found herself standing up from her chair and walking towards the door. Hands already starting to shake again. She's just gonna go there, won't look at whoever this...exorcist(?) is, put out the pieces of information she has, and then she would come back here, to her room where it's safe and sound.

Sounds like a plan. She nodded to herself as she watched her hand slowly but surely turn the door handle. One step out. Two steps out. She could hear the company's voice chatting with her friends downstairs. Three steps out. Four steps out. Five. Six. And then she hears it.

"Oh, yes. I can feel the spirits."

Oh boy.


	17. Chapter 17

"Oh, yes. I can feel the spirits." the psychic states. The moment the blond woman drove up in front of the house, her senses started tingling. "There are multiple spirits residing in this house." she continues, eyes scanning the vast living room, and while doing so, spotting Taeyeon leaning on the railing at the floor above, watching them with an apathetic look masking her face.

"Really?" Yuri asked in amusement. Fear starting to blossom in her heart, causing her to stick to her girlfriend's side who seemed just as shaken as her. "I mean, did anything supernatural happen?" she asked, turning to Tiffany.

"Well...yeah. The-...The doorknobs move on their own, and...Taeyeon saw something too...although she didn't tell me what it was."

"Alright then, if said Taeyeon would be so gracious to tell me exactly what happened..." The blonde psychic asked carefully, looking back and forth between Tiffany and Taeyeon. Climbing down the stairs. Considering the subject of conversation, the author's passive attitude alone could scare anyone.

"I'll tell you. Come on up." Taeyeon finally said. It came out a bit monotone and the lack of greeting made it seem like she was being rude when in reality, she was cursing herself on the inside for fucking up her first impression and not following the proper courteous steps towards being a decent host. She beat herself up on the inside so bad that her heart started racing again. A light sheen of sweat formed on her forehead as she led the four of them to said haunted room upstairs.

"Ohh, it's getting stronger." The psychic comment as they were a few steps away from the door. The scaredy cat couple was holding each other closely, while Tiffany hugged herself and made sure she was five meters away from said door. "May I open the door?" the blonde asked, turning to Taeyeon for permission, although her hand was already twisting the knob.

"Suit yourself." Taeyeon shrugged. Although extremely anxious, she managed to keep up the apathetic facade which her American housemate was getting concerned about, as she has never seen Taeyeon behave like that since their argument by the pool months ago when she first moved in.

The blonde psychic gripped the doorknob and slowly turned it. Everyone silent in anticipation. Once the blonde psychic was inside, Taeyeon followed, but the three musketeers remained outside, gradually gathering enough courage to peek in. The room seemed to be the exact same size as Tiffany's.

White walls hid behind tall black bookshelves similar to the ones in Taeyeon's room. The same marble floor as the rest of the house. Gray curtains. Two white arms chairs. A navy blue couch with yellow and green cushions. A light wooden coffee table. A flat-screen TV hung on the shelves, right in front of the couch. A tall lamp in the corner, resting on the floor next to it is an assortment of boxes. Some of them open. More books are inside. One of them had a cable peeking out.

Although the room seemed to have been kept in order, the smell of accumulated dust could not be ignored. Even though they were outside the room, the three musketeers were starting to get nervous. How the two inside the room appeared unperturbed by it was a mystery. It was clear that the room hadn't had visitors in quite some time.

The psychic got oddly silent all of a sudden. Even though she was pretty chatty as soon as she arrived, being in the presence of what the three standing outside presume to be otherworldly beings have shut her up. After standing still in the middle of the room for a while, the blonde finally moved. She slowly walked around the room, arms crossed. Momentarily uncrossing them to touch the dusty surface of the bookshelves. As she reached the point she started from, the smile on her face has now turned into a somber look.

"This room...no, this house..." she sighed before swallowing, "I wouldn't call it haunted." she says, "More like visited." she looks straight at Taeyeon, "Tell me about it."

Taeyeon scratches the back of her neck and nods. She glances at Tiffany, fully knowing that what she's about to say will scare her housemate more. However, she got the courage to open her mouth again when Tiffany nodded at her in a rapid manner.

"The first incident was when I first moved here, on this couch." Taeyeon starts, walking over to the navy blue couch. "I was watching a movie on the TV. The sound suddenly started dropping on its own. I thought that I have sat on the remote so I got up to get it, but it wasn't under me. I pulled the cushions off but it wasn't under there either, but then...as I sat down again, I saw something in my peripheral vision moving. When I looked at my right...it was the remote dropping on the couch from mid-air."

The three musketeers groaned in both fear and anxiousness, taking further steps back. While the psychic just stood there with an unreadable expression on her face, mimicking Taeyeon's own. She stares at the couch and the remote control currently resting on the dusty coffee table.

"The same thing started happening every other day with different objects. Sometimes it's booked. Sometimes it's my phone. Sometimes it's my earbuds. I would lose it for a small amount of time, and suddenly it appears in some place else. A place where I definitely didn't put it there. Like my phone in the freezer, and a book in the dryer. They would always be items that I usually place in this room. It eventually got too bothersome to look for things so I just locked the door and moved my stuff to another room."

"Has everything been going normally, since you left this room?" the blonde asks.

Taeyeon nods, eyeing the bookshelves that have been long abandoned, "It has been for a very long time, but things started happened again recently." she looks at Tiffany who's hiding behind the scaredy cat couple, "I believe since Tiffany moved in."

Tiffany, appalled by the revelation, looks at her housemate in shock, eyes, and mouth wide open. She knew that Taeyeon told her practically nothing regarding their...guests. But now she's hearing details she didn't expect, and can't help it but get even more frightened and a tad bit pissed at her housemate.


	18. Chapter 18

The two residents of the house guide the three guests downstairs. Well, Taeyeon does, Tiffany is quietly walking behind everyone else. Arms crossed. Confused about whether to be grateful or upset with Taeyeon. Sometimes it's for your own good to not know certain things, and she knows Taeyeon's logic when she decided to hide their visitors' existence from her. But, at the end of the day, she's still feeling quite disheartened.

"This only started happening when Tiffany moved in. I find this cabinet open sometimes." Taeyeon touches the surface of one of the kitchen cabinets, in which she had to stand on the tips of her toes to reach. "The cereal we keep in it is usually spilled everywhere inside when it happens."

The psychic responses by nodding quietly. If one would look closely, they'll see how glazed over her eyes are, and yet, she didn't mutter a word. But she did take a step further in the kitchen area. Just like she did with the bookshelves earlier, she put a hand on one of the cabinets and traced them as she walked slowly. When she reached the cabinet Taeyeon specifically pointed out, prayed it open. These weren't the kind of cabinets that a gust of wind could open.

"Maybe it's a rat," Yuri mutters from behind her girlfriend. At this point, she's glued to her lover's back.

Tiffany looks over at her dark friend in disgust, "So you're telling me, a rat comes in every now and then, opens the cabinet, spills the cereal for shits and giggles, and just leaves, bolts out of here, goodbye, without touching anything else or making any noise." she says. Sarcasm dripping from the tone of her voice.

"Yyyyeah?" Yuri frowns and shrugs, "Sounds more realistic than a ghost, to be honest."

"And yet you're hiding all the way over there." Tiffany points out. Yuri hiding behind Jessica who's already hiding behind the couch in the living area did not do anything to help her dark friend's case.

Yuri opened her mouth. She had a really good argument to follow up with that. She really did. But, the psychic who has been quiet this whole time beat her to it, "I get the gist of it...and I have a lot to tell you. But I think we all need to sit down first." The blonde says. Her voice clear and her stance just as confident as when she first walked in the house.

"Yes, of course." Tiffany was quick to guide the woman to the dining table. All five of them took seats around it. The blonde at the head of it. Tiffany and Taeyeon on the right, closer to further in that order, while Yuri who sat on the left side served as a seat for her girlfriend who now seems less scared and more amused by all of this ghost shtick.

After getting comfortable on her seat, the psychic reached inside of her purse and took out a notebook and a pen. "Just to avoid confusions, I'm not just psychic, I'm a medium as well. My specialty is readings. You don't have to tell me any stories, I will be the one doing most of the talking. You will see me scribbling, it helps me tune out, and kinda ignore everything else around me. And if I sit long enough, I start getting sensations, visuals, voices, sometimes even smells or tastes, and my job is to put them together into coherent messages for you to understand. "

"Wait, so you talk to dead people?" Yuri asks with both surprise and fear on her face. "Well, this is rich- ouch! What? she hears voices!"

"Be quiet." Jessica hissed at her girlfriend. She was being rude and the American did not hesitate to physically punish her lover by stomping on her foot just hard enough to communicate the message.

With that out of the way, Tiffany let out a deep long sigh. She glances over to her right, just to see what kind of reaction Taeyeon has, but her face was as stoic as ten minutes ago. She spared Tiffany a glance and a small smile when she noticed her looking.

The blonde nodded, "Alright then, I'll be starting, so just give me a few seconds to connect." she gets a good grip on her pen and flips the notebook open on a clean page. As she flipped it, the house residents and their friends noticed that more than half of the notebook was filled with scribbles. Just random lines and rolls.

"There are four of them." she starts, "An old man. His link to you is the strongest, so perhaps he's been here the longest. Then there's a middle-aged woman. There's a certain detachment between her and the other three, so maybe she's the one who started making her presence known to you when Tiffany-ssi moved in. Then there's a teenage boy and a little girl. I sense a strong link to both of you, so they might be spirits of close friends or family members."

Both Taeyeon and Tiffany immediately looked at each other. Exchanging a knowing look. Equally surprised by the news. "They're...your-...and my..."

Taeyeon rapidly nods before Tiffany finished formulating the sentence.

The psychic smiles, "Seems like you have a pretty good idea on to who they are."

Tiffany turns back to her, a beautiful smile on her face and tears forming at the ends of her eyes. "They're family."

The psychic nods and looks at her hands on the table with a smile, "I see."

"Continue please,"

To everyone's surprise, it was Taeyeon who said that. Now that she knew who their visitors are, she dragged her chair a bit closer to Tiffany to hear better. Although she wasn't as teary-eyed as her housemate was, she was just as eager to listen to what the psychic had to say.

The psychic looked up, and the small smile that was plastered on her face earlier now gone. "Very well. First, the old man and the middle-aged woman. While they died in different circumstances, they both have a trauma. There was a lot of chaos as they were passing. I can't quite point out what either of them died off of, but I'm getting images of a hospital so maybe a long-lasting disease."

Memories of her mother started streaming back. Tiffany couldn't help it but start sobbing a little. Remembering how much her mother suffered. Laying on that bed, alone in that room, hurting, and hurting, and hurting, every single day, until she took her last breath.

Meanwhile, Taeyeon, the expression on her face was unreadable, but she could be seen swallowing a lump that formed at the base of her throat. An old man who died in chaotic circumstances and a middle-aged woman who died of a long-lasting disease. Sounds like her grandfather and Tiffany's mother alright.

"They have both made great friends to each other and spend most of their time in the room upstairs. The old man must be attached to a certain item you keep in there, hence why he doesn't come out of there. The old man doesn't like what you're doing. He keeps mentioning the outside over and over going but he's not kicking you out. Perhaps he wants you to go out more, but generally, he's not worried much. "

"You heard that? Even Grandpa knows what's up." Yuri says boldly.

Taeyeon gave her a look. Then decided to ignore her for her own sanity.

"About the younger spirits. The teenage boy seems to be about sixteen, or seventeen. A high school student. The little girl is about eight or nine. Both of them passed very young and were in a very distraught state when they died. The boy doesn't seem like he died of natural causes. I can see a gun. He really didn't want to go that soon. The little girl was just sad. She lived a very hard life. I can see a bathtub. A razor...there's the smell of blood too." The blonde squinted "Do you know what this is?"

Taeyeon's eyes were fixed on the table. It as visible to everyone how she was slightly shaking and not really blinking that much, as if she was emotionally stunted, "That's...my little sister. She slashed her wrists with a razor in the bathtub."

"Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. It must have been very hard on you."

"Yeah, well." Taeyeon nodded, finally snapping out of the trance she was in, "That's that."

Silently, the blonde continued scribbling, and just like earlier, it took a moment, just a few seconds to get something else, "There's this situation, here's how it's coming in. There's a family of six. A grandparent, father, mother, a boy, and two girls. The father leaves the picture first. I can see a lot of struggle. Then the grandparent, the boy and one of the girls leave the picture too, and the empty space between the mother and the remaining girl is never filled. Then they go on their separate ways. Both starting new families. Tragedy, abandonment issues and regrets are an issue between them, and unfortunately, I don't see them ever in the same picture again. Do you know what this is about?"

There's a grim amount of silence. Eyes are afraid to meet each other and settling on the table instead. The psychic's confused state is finally resolved when Taeyeon clears her throat, voice coming out even more emotionless than it already was earlier, "Yeah. That's pretty accurate. Let's move on."

"Right." Nonchalantly, the psychic continues scribbling for a few seconds, still in silence. All that could be heard is the sound of the ball pen being dragged across the paper. "I keep getting starve, starve, starve, and the image of a plate half filled with food. Maybe one of you has been too busy to eat a full meal, or maybe there's an eating disorder. Do you have an idea of what this is?"

"Yeah." Yuri snapped, squinting at her short friend, "There's an inkling."

It may have been the seriousness of the discussion, or it may have been Taeyeon forgetting herself because of thoughts of her deceased family members, but for a moment that surprised everyone, she stepped out of the tough act she puts up in front of strangers and into her true character when angry. She frowned deeply at her dark friend, "Yuri, shut the fuck up."

The wind stopped blowing. The birds stopped singing, and the full moon stopped shining so bright at the wrath of Kim Taeyeon. All of her 5 ft 1 in height and a 100 pounds in weight. Yuri's eyes widened for a moment, but then a smile of mischievous nature masks her mouth, "Shoot me, why don't you?"

"I will if you don't shut up." Taeyeon glared.

To stop either of her friends from getting a hold of each other's throats, Tiffany turned to the blonde at the center of the table with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry about that Hyoyeon-ssi, please continue."

Taeyeon flinched. Her back shooting up to sit straight, not that there was anything straight about what was happening under the table. Precisely her housemate's hand gently rubbing the muscle of her thigh. Up and down. Over and Over again. Although it made the young author a bit nervous, it did succeed in distracting her from the anger. The desire to reach over the table and choke Kwon Yuri no longer present.

"Alright." Kim Hyoyeon the psychic oddly started the next sentence with a cheerful giggle, "Tiffany-ssi, your mother is...*giggles* is coming at me strong. Amazing energy. She's very happy right now."

The brunette American felt her eyes tear up again, "She is?" being told such a fact after so money years of silence that shouldn't have been broken, Tiffany felt delighted. It feels good. It's really good to know that after all of the pain and suffering, death actually means resting in peace.

"Yes, she is." The blonde nods enthusiastically, "You have recently reached a point in your life where you feel stable, but there are a couple of things you're not sure about. A lot of things are coming in right now. Images of heart-shaped balloons, roses, couples holding hands. This is about your love life. Is there currently someone you're romantically involved with?"

They're such shit-heads. Her friends are. When they heard that, Yuri and Jessica leaned over the table with the most annoying shit-eating grins on their faces. This is a mistake. She shouldn't have let them stay in the room in the first place. She rolled her eyes and tried her best not to glance their way, afraid that if she did, she won't be able to hold her tongue back from saying pretty harsh things, "Um...not romantically involved, but there's someone I'm interested in."

The blonde nodded quickly, "Yes, whatever that is. Your mother is encouraging you to go for it. You haven't met that long ago, correct?"

Tiffany swallowed and bit her lower lip nervously. She fought the urge to look back and see what kind of face Taeyeon is making right now as she nods, "Yeah...I have never been interested in someone like them before, so...I'm a bit hesitant to pursue them seriously."

"I see." Hyoyeon frowns and nods, she pauses for a few seconds, perhaps putting together the things she's sensing, "There will be certain...unusual hardships in your journey, but, they're a very good person. I don't see any problems with infidelity or substance abuse. Which you're scared of, correct?"

To that, Tiffany sighs and nods silently. Her ex-boyfriends sure did a number on her.

"There will be a different set of problems that you're gonna have to face with this new person, but there won't be anything that the two of you won't be able to work out. You're incredibly compatible and have a bright future together."

"Damn. Well, I'm jealous." Yuri comments nonchalantly. Completely forgetting that her even more jealous girlfriend is currently sitting on her lap. She yelped in pain when she felt her wrath. This time it came in the form of a kick on the shin. "I-...I mean, I love you," she says nervously.

With soft giggles going around the table, the intensity of the atmosphere instantly lightened.

"I keep getting the word father. Your mother is a bit worried about him. Is he currently living alone?"

"Yeah, he's in the states now." Tiffany nods. Her senses a bit more hyped now that she's hearing about her father. He doesn't say much when she calls him, and she doesn't say much back. Since they have never had a close relationship, their conversations now could only be described as uncomfortably awkward.

"He's a bit hesitant about a financial risk he's thinking of taking. Your mother wants you to let him know that it's a good thing and that he should take it."

Tiffany really didn't know what to say. So she settled with a simple, "Okay." although she's not very keen on knowing what kind of reaction her dad will have when he knows she's listening to advise from supposedly her dead mother.

"Okay, this is a bit weird. So your mother wants me to mention a situation where there is a man, a woman, and a female child, but then the adult woman and the child are removed and put together. In their place comes another woman. Your father has a girlfriend, correct?"

"Excuse me?" Tiffany's eyes widened. "No, he...doesn't." she trails off. Eyes searching empty space while her mind went into what could be described as a mental cyclone. "At least...not that I know of."

Kim Hyoyeon smiles awkwardly, "Well, um...uh, he does, and she's also pregnant with his child."

"What?!" Tiffany snaps. Her voice went several pitches higher than usual and the hems of her sweater were definitely wrinkled by now form how hard she was gripping them.

In an attempt to calm Tiffany's emotions down, the psychic clears her throat and uses a gentler voice with her next sentence, "It's going to do him good."

"Good?" Tiffany coughs, "I'm in my late 20 for god's sake, and I'm gonna have a baby sibling?! What on earth!" frustrated and a bit overheated, the chair makes a loud noise when Tiffany gets up and walks stomps away and out of the house. Phone in hand, probably dialing up her father.

The four girls remaining on the table exchange awkward glances at each other. They wait in more awkward silence. Although what she was saying wasn't audible, Tiffany's loud voice could be heard all the way from the front yard. The yelling keeps going on and on and on and Yuri wishes she were dead over being stuck in such an uncomfortable situation.

Then it was over. Tiffany finally shut her pie hole and slowly made her way back in the house. Arms slumped on either side. Her steps lacked the usual energy and chirpiness. Her eyes looked empty. She didn't say anything for a while after she reclaimed her seat next to Taeyeon and stared at the table with a blank expression. Mouth only slightly open. "She's due to next month. I'm having a baby brother. Please, go ahead. Continue."

"Uhh...right." Hyoyeon was quick to clear her throat and grip the pen between her fingers just a tad bit tighter to scribble with. It didn't take long for her to get the next thing, "The little girl is the one responsible for the kitchen cabinet and the boy is the one hiding stuff from you. They don't mean any harm. They're just bored and it's their way of getting amusement."

Taeyeon smiled at that. She couldn't give her siblings much while they were still alive, but maybe now in their death, she could bear with having messy cabinets and wasted cereal every now and then. A couple of lost books and headphones are no problem.

"That's about it." Kim Hyoyeon lets out a sigh. An easy-going smile on her face. She puts the pen down on the notebook and relaxes back on her chair. "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes." Yuri raises her hand enthusiastically, "When am I gonna die?"

"Ahh..." Hyoyeon laughs awkwardly, "That's outside of my abilities."

Jessica rolls her eyes and gets off her girlfriend who probably have lost the feeling of her legs a long time ago, "Do you have stupid people like her asking stupid questions like this?" she asks.

"I wouldn't say stupid, but yes, that is a common question." she nods.

"So...you actually do this for a living?" Yuri asks once more. This time with a more serious face and a tone of voice that isn't meant to make a mockery of the woman she so clearly doesn't believe in the abilities of.

"Yeah." Kim Hyoyeon smiles and nods.

"Do you have a lot of customers?"

"More than you think."

"Isn't it scary to talk to dead people?"

"Well, I got used to it after it kept happening every all day every day." she laughed lightly, "First time it happened I was 9 when I had this vivid dream of my deceased grandfather telling that my grandmother was going to die that night. I was so freaked out when I woke up the same night that I ran over to my mom's room and told her about it. She was just telling me that it was just a dream and to go back to sleep when the phone rang and it was my uncle telling her that her mother has passed a few minutes ago. Since then, my life's been a rollercoaster really."

"That's really fascinating," Jessica says in awe.

While Jessica and Yuri were busy chatting up the blonde, Taeyeon and Tiffany were lost in a world of their own. In a single night, they found out that their house is visited by their deceased family members. The heard about diets, careers, financial risk, love life, pregnant girlfriends and mischievous ghosts.

But, at the end of the night, the final thought they both had in mind before falling asleep was how grateful they were. The thought that their family, even though they're dead, they were still here with them. Watching over them. Looking out for them. Still loving them. What a nice feeling. It's so nice to know that the special people in your life that have died are still with you.

It's so nice to know that you're being cared for.

Despite everything, there was certain happiness there that both of them couldn't help but feel.


	19. Chapter 19

Taeyeon was standing in front of a giant ogre. Sword in hand. The rest of her party standing on either of her sides. It's been a long tiring journey. Throughout all the lands they fought in. All the monsters they killed. All the friends they made along the way. All the blood, sweat, and tears that were spilled. They're finally here. Even though she started on her own, she's really glad that she met the friends that are standing by her side right now. Kwon Yuri the assassin, Jessica Jung the mage, and Tiffany Hwang the most beautiful ranger she's ever seen.

The time has come. It's time to kill the evil overlord once and for all. Why he looks just like an oversized Shrek, she doesn't know. He's not supposed to look like this, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that they're so close to saving the world and achieving the goal they all set out on this journey to achieve. The time for the final battle had arrived and by the angry ugly expression on the ogre's face, he's not gonna let them run even if they tried to. Her sword was ready, and so was she.

"Tae."

With a grin, she turns her attention to their beautiful ranger.

"It's time," Tiffany says with a breathtaking smile on her face.

"Yes, it is." Taeyeon nods, "I trust that all of us are going to get out of this safe."

Then Tiffany's smile turns into a frown, "Huh?"

"What?" Taeyeon smirks, "You're scared now?"

"Scared?" The ranger puts down her bow and arrow, "Of what?"

Taeyeon's eyebrows almost met in a frown, "Oh, I don't know. To fight this huge ass pissed ogre standing in front of us?! Pick your god damn weapon. I don't want to lose you!"

Tiffany froze for a moment before chuckling, "Are you sleep talking? Tae, _wake up!_ "

Taeyeon sits up with a gasp. She looked right and left in a panic. It was a bit dark so she couldn't distinguish the face of the woman leaning over her bed and reaching her hand out to her. The young author backed up on her bed so far until she bumped into the bookshelves behind her. All she knew next is that her head hurt her really bad as if a brick just fell on it, but she was unconscious so she couldn't do anything about it.

The pain slowly but surely subsided. She felt a hand rubbing the pain away from her head very gently. It was comforting, soothing, and relaxing. The world around her felt different. Blowing air tickled her face. Fresh cold morning air. She felt her fringe move. The sound was similar to what it feels like to sleep in a car.

"I think we should take her to the hospital. The book was really big and heavy." It was Jessica's voice.

"Nah, she'll be fine. She fell off the second-floor window once and was completely fine, why wouldn't she after a single book?" So annoying. It's Yuri's voice.

"She wasn't completely fine, she broke an arm!"

"Ey, she'll be okay."

"I swear to god if she's not, you're gonna volunteer for the brain transplant."

"Babe...I don't think that's po- oh hey, she's moving! See, I told you she's gonna be okay!"

Taeyeon blinked rapidly. Needing a moment to fully take in her surroundings. She was staring at a low black ceiling. Her socked feet were touching a glass window in front of her. The scenery was a line of passing greenery. It looked just bright enough to be around dusk. There were car seats on her left, Jessica sitting on one of them, leaning over to her with a small smile.

"Hey," she greets softly, "How are you feeling?"

"Con-...fused. Why am I in your car?" Taeyeon answers, voice cracking because of her parched throat.

"Well, you wouldn't wake up, so we had to carry you here," Yuri said, not mentioning the fact that Taeyeon got so startled when they woke her up she bumped into one of her shelves and a book fell on her head had knocked her out.

Taeyeon slowly nodded her head. Realizing what had probably happened. They still didn't answer her question which was why she was in the car in the first place, but she paid no mind to that for now, after all, how could she when Tiffany was smiling down at her like that. She's so pretty the young author just couldn't get over it. A close up of her is even more beautiful. She couldn't help it but reach out to her and touch the soft looking skin of her cheek. It felt heavenly under her touch.

The American girl above her closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, enjoying the skinship for what it's worth, "Unn feels good."

And then it sank in.

This is real.

The Tiffany above her is real.

She's actually really caressing Tiffany's cheek and her housemate seems to be really enjoying it.

"I don't know what's going on back there, but Jesus, get a room you two," Yuri comments with a groan. Meanwhile, Jessica is watching their two friends in amusement.

Taeyeon slowly retracted her hand and used the car seats as support to lift herself off what now she realizes is her housemate's bare thighs. She scoots over until she's as far away from her as possible. The air coming in from the opened windows in the front somewhat helped with cooling off her face. She was still clad in her sleepwear. A loose white graphic t-shirt, gray shorts, and white socks.

Swallowing heavily, she looked to her left where her housemate was seated. Tiffany was wearing a similar t-shirt, blue short shorts, and black vans. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail. Her fringe fluttered ever so slightly with the wind, and the red lipstick made the smile on her face even more lethal. Taeyeon sighed. Her heart skipped a beat. She was completely entranced.

"Good morning sunshine."

The shorty jumped a little, "Uh, yeah, good morning." she said. Averting her eyes awkwardly. Then she remembered the events of last night. The psychic, the spirits visiting their house, their families. The way Tiffany cried. The Tiffany smiled after. "Did-...did you sleep well last night?" she asked cautiously. Curious if the subsiding fear of ghosts has led to any improvements in her housemate's sleep pattern. Not that she's complaining about the occasional guest in her bed every other night for the past week. She sneaked in when Taeyeon was asleep and left when before she woke up, but still, Taeyeon noticed.

Tiffany beamed, "Yes, actually, thanks for asking!" she answered enthusiastically. She seemed to be in a much better mood than the majority of last month.

"I'm glad," Taeyeon says, a smile slowly gracing her face.

"Yeah?" Tiffany raises her eyebrows expectantly.

Taeyeon nods, "Yeah." and she just gets lost in her housemate's gorgeous eyes. Staring at them for too long gave her difficulty breathing.

Tiffany giggled and buried her face in her hands all of a sudden, "Why are you looking at me like that? It's embarrassing!"

Taeyeon didn't know what kind of look she was giving the American girl, but she knew she was staring, "Because you're really pretty." Tiffany's face fell, she looked like she was about to cry but was smiling at the same time. It was impossible for Taeyeon to read her current emotions, so she panics, "Ah, sorry. I didn't mean anything weird by that."

"Don't you dare! Taeyeon-ah, you're so sweet!" Tiffany squealed and launched herself into her housemate for a big hug.

"Ahh yeah sure." Taeyeon's eyes wander, her housemate smells so god damn good and she's hugging her. She patted her back because she didn't dare to actually hug back.

"Love you." The worse thing is, Tiffany wasn't satisfied with a hug. She started smooching her housemate on every spot she could stain her face with lipstick with. Her heart felt like it's gonna jump out of her chest any second now.

"Okay, Tiffany, I love you too, but you don't have to-...okay, we're done. You can go back over there now. Tiffany! Please don't- I'm not-...okay."

Meanwhile, in the front seats, Jessica and Yuri were watching what their friends were doing in the back seat in awe. Yuri slowed down the car and wasn't even paying attention to the road anymore. They thought their friends were getting along just fine. Turned out they weren't. This wasn't just fine, this is amazingly well.

Tiffany ended up back to her side staring out the window with a smile, humming a mysterious happy melody. On the other side, Taeyeon was hugging her knees. Curled up in a ball. Eyes empty and traumatized. Lipstick marks covered an unreadable expression. Her pride as _no physical affection ever moves me_ , must be shaken after that. Tears almost slid down her eyes.

"Please tell me you brought me shoes," she mutters. Voice low and hoarse.

"Oh, yeah. I put them in your bag." Jessica says as she leans back and hands her short friend a pack of wet wipes to clean her face with.

Taeyeon accepts it gladly and opens it up immediately, "Bag? What bag?" she asks.

"Since you wouldn't wake up, I packed for you."

Taeyeon pauses. She stops wiping her face from the lipstick and drops her hand on her lap. "Packed for me for what?" She looks out the window at all the green scenery. This doesn't look like Seoul. "Where are we? Where are we going?" she asks with slight infuriation in her voice.

"You didn't tell her?" Jessica turns to Tiffany who was looking at her housemate with heart eyes, "Yah!"

Tiffany jumps a little, "What?"

The blonde grimaces, "You didn't tell her about the road trip?"

"Road trip?!" Taeyeon exclaims.

On the other hand, Tiffany grins sheepishly, "I may or may not have forgotten."


	20. Chapter 20

The wind blew through the car windows. Not hot. Not too cold. Such beautiful weather. Taeyeon relaxed on her seat and smiled. The atmosphere her unusually quiet friends and the chill lofi music playing through the radio created felt magical. Moments like this is when she's truly happy. Laid back and surrounded by the people she loves. She decided that she wants to die here.

They had stopped earlier in a station for gas where Taeyeon got the chance to change out of her sleepwear. She got into a more casual attire consisting of brown Chelsea boots, black jeans, and a baby blue oversized t-shirt that she tucked in. She owned not a single piece of these garments, she just wore what Jessica handed her over. She guessed it was something from her brand.

Destination, unknown. Time, late morning. Taeyeon didn't care, really. She wouldn't have said no if they invited her on this road trip properly since it's just the four of them. One problem is, she wishes she could have known beforehand so she could have brought a book with her or something to entertain her on the way. She has a long list to go through and this is perfect timing for this.

Books and entertainment aside, they're approaching another gas station. Her heart started beating hard and fast when she saw a certain sign from far away. She was as blind as a bat without her glasses so she could only judge by the colors. They were all too familiar. Seeing it made her curse herself for having social anxiety because all she wants to do is just visit this place every single day. The closer they got the more nervous she got.

Finally, she snapped. She couldn't take it anymore. The pink, blue, and white sign was calling out to her loud and clear. She scooted over to the middle quickly, sticking her head between her two best friends. Yuri glanced at her with a frown, weirded out. "Can you please go back and put your seat belt on?" she said.

Taeyeon looked at her dark friend bitterly, a bit hurt that she was ushered away, but her determination didn't flatter, "Can I get an ice cream?"

Yuri looked at her stunned for a moment. Taeyeon never asked her for anything, ever. She smirked, just for shits and giggles she said, "No."

Taeyeon's face right down fell, her mouth slightly open, her lips quivered slightly, "...please?"

Yuri smiled, "No."

Well, this is just not fun anymore, Taeyeon pouted. She went back to her seat, looking all dejected.

"Yul, pull over there. I want ice cream too." Tiffany chimes in. She wanted ice cream too, but she only asked for it so Taeyeon would get some too.

"Nope." Yuri smiled wider. Her girlfriend has caught on to what she was doing when she noticed that she was slowing down and turned on the car flickers, getting ready to pull over at the station.

Tiffany rolled her eyes, "Why not?"

"Don't you see how many cars are parked there? It's crowded. Gonna take time. I would like to arrive at our destination before noon. Thank you very much." Yuri shoots without batting an eye. Really enjoying the banter. She could see Taeyeon giving her a dirty look from the mirror.

"Jessie, say something." Tiffany looks at her blonde friend expectantly.

Jessica shrugs, "Meh. I don't feel like going out of the car."

"Then stay in the car."

"Nah, you guys are gonna probably take way too long."

"10 minutes. I promise it won't be long."

"How do you know it's gonna be 10 minutes? Are you gonna cut the line or something?"

"Oh my god," Tiffany shakes her head, fuming at this point, "What is wrong with you two? It's just ice cream!" but then she frowned in confusion when she saw that they were pulling over in the station.

"I'm getting chocolate. Babe, what flavor of ice cream are you getting?" Yuri turned to her girlfriend.

"Ohhh I'm getting strawberry."

"You got it." Yuri winked at her girlfriend before exiting the car.

Now that she realized that her friend was just teasing her, Taeyeon excitedly prayed the car door open...except it didn't open. "It's locked," she says. Kwon Yuri appears in front of her and leans on the opened window with a smug smile. "You're a bitch," she tells her friend.

Yuri throws her head back laughing, turning around to go inside Baskin Robins. "At least I'm gonna be a bitch with ice cream."

Taeyeon was about ready to just jump out the window and do a flying kick to the back of her best friend's head, but then people came out of the ice cream shop, a small family of four. A man, a woman, and assuming the two kids are theirs, Taeyeon was brave no more. She bitterly leaned back on her seat and closed the window all the way up. "Now that's just cruel." she sighs.

"I will give you a bite if you sing me a song." Jessica teases.

Taeyeon smiles sweetly and sings, "You're such a fucking hoe, I love it. Your girlfriend is a dork, McLovin." she kicks the seat in front of her, causing her blonde friend to yelp.

"Yah!" Jessica leaned over to the back to look her friend in the eyes, but Taeyeon was already over it and was looking out the window bitterly, "What was that for? I even offered you a bite!"

"Shove it, Sica."

"Hey, you don't have to be mean."

"Look in the mirror and tell yourself that. Also, do me a favor and say that to your girlfriend too."

"Guys, come on. Stop fighting!" Tiffany intervenes, really not liking the nasty atmosphere created by her friend's shitty attitude and Taeyeon's unexpected anger.

"Stay out of it!" Both her friends yell at the same time.

Well, Tiffany hadn't popped a nerve in a long time. She swallowed heavily and smiled sweetly. "Look here both of you. We may be friends, but talk to me like that again and I'm throwing both of you out of this car and driving away by myself, and don't you dare test me on that."

Jessica and Taeyeon who were exchanging glares from the mirror slowly turned to the angry brunette. Taeyeon was confused at first, but then felt a tinge of guilt. She's been pissing her housemate off a lot lately and she really doesn't like the feeling of being on her bad side. Jessica, on the other hand, was stunned and honestly a bit scared. Tiffany doesn't go off that much, but when she does...oh boy.

Just in time, Yuri comes back with a big smile and Baskin Robins bag. "It surprisingly wasn't that crowded. Lucky us, huh?" when nobody replied, she looked around at her friend's faces. "What's wrong? What happened? What did I miss?"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Tiffany turns to her with a smile. Her voice a tad bit too cheerful, "We were just joking around. Right guys?"

Jessica clears her throat, "Uhm, yeah."

"Right." Taeyeon averts her eyes and focuses on the now moving scenery out the window.

To finally reveal the true colors of the situation, Jessica grabs the paper bag and opens it. Taking out cups of her friend's favorite ice cream flavors. "Here. Chocolate for Taeyeon and Yul. Strawberry for Tiffany and I." she distributed the ice cream cups between them. Holding in her laughter when she saw the dumbfounded look on her friend's faces in the back seat.

"Oh, you assholes!" Tiffany snaps, and her natural beautiful smile back to its sweet state.

Meanwhile, the realization was still downing on Taeyeon as she stared at the chocolate ice cream cup between her hands.

"The look on her face! Look at her!" Yuri exclaims and starts laughing uncontrollably. "It's just a prank, bro!" This is exactly what she signed up for. Taeyeon, on the other hand, was a bit upset, but most of all, guilty because of her argument with her blonde friend who's now leaning back to her with a smug smile, looking at her expectantly. So annoying!

"I'm not apologizing." she purses her lips.

In reply, Jessica simply smiles, "Suit yourself." she leans back on her seat and starts enjoying her ice cream fully aware of what her short friend actually feels.

Tiffany who was aware of the situation sighed and shook her head, she glared at Yuri. "This all your fault, Yuri McLovin."

Yuri cocked an eyebrow, "Huh?"


End file.
